


CSAU

by walkingentityofsnark



Series: Rosie AU [2]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Carmilla Sibling AU, Gen, Rosie AU, csau
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-29
Updated: 2015-09-18
Packaged: 2018-03-19 07:24:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3601338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/walkingentityofsnark/pseuds/walkingentityofsnark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one in which Laura has a little sister.  And that little sister is here to stir things up for everyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lean On Me

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: The first section is pure canon happenings from the beginning of episode 19 in order to achieve a smoother transition into the AU

“Fine, so I’m a vampire,” Carmilla admitted, as the gang looked around uneasily at each other, “But I couldn’t have made off with either of the two cupcakes because I was here with you, and then I was here being ambushed by toddlers the whole time.”

“Well maybe you have some kind of vampiric accomplice,” Laura exclaimed.

Danny scoffed at the two from her place on Laura’s bed as their banter went back and forth.  Laura was getting visibly frustrated.

“You’re a vampire!” she finally yelled, clenching her fists.

“Yea but not a kidnapper!”

“She’s got us there,” LaFontaine chimed in, ignoring an unpleasant look from Danny, “Assuming she’s up to something diabolical just because she’s…”

“An undead fiend from the pits of hell?” Laura offered.

“I’m from Eastern Europe.”

Danny rolled her eyes.  So did Carmilla.

“Potayto, potahto,” she continued.

Confusion and uncertainty settled on the room.  Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.  LaF and Perry rushed forward as it opened in order to block the view.  They were quick on their feet as they cheerfully turned away offered beer shots and distracted from the happenings inside the room with an excuse about some made up scene rehearsal.  With the door safely closed behind them, the pair turned and rejoined the others.  Perry’s mind raced.

“Ok,” she started, “as much as I appreciate that we have this whole hysterical vampire thing going on, I think it’s time that we just…deescalate-“

“Deescalate?!  She _just_ admitted to being a vampire!” Laura cried out.

“I know.  And that’s insane.  So, maybe she’s just insane and instead of holding her here hostage we should take her to student health services.  I hear they have a great collection of strait jackets and tranquilizers.”

Perry looked around the room, waiting for a response from someone, anyone.  But before anything could be said for or against Perry’s new plan, there was another knock.  Perry threw her hands in the air and started yelling before she even got the door open.

“We said we’re good on beer shots alright!  We’re…trying to rehearse in-“

But as the door swung open, Perry swallowed her words.  The small girl standing outside Laura’s door was not a partygoer peddling shots.  Perry couldn’t even see the girl’s face, but for some reason she felt as if she knew her, without knowing exactly how.  As she looked the girl over, she realized that if she didn’t know Carmilla was tied up behind her, at a glance she might mistake this girl for her.  She wore similar footwear, black combat boots with the laces haphazardly tied.  No leather pants, but her jeans were just as tight and just as black.  The leather this girl was wearing was in the form of a jacket, worn over a black sweatshirt, the hood of which was pulled up and over her head, obscuring her face from Perry’s view.  She noticed the duffel bags the girl was carrying, just as her head shifted slightly, letting more light in under the hood.  Perry almost gasped.  She did know this girl.

She still couldn’t see the girl’s eyes, but she could see the wild strawberry blonde hair peeking out from under the hood and the freckles that dotted her face.  There was no doubt who this girl was.  Perry began to speak, but just then Laura called out to her from within the room.  Her head shot up when she heard the voice, and before Perry could even process what she was seeing the girl slid past her into the room.

Upon seeing the intruder, LaFontaine and Danny jumped up, standing next to each other directly in front of Carmilla.  But the shadowy girl had already seen their captive; she had stopped in her tracks.  The two spoke in unison as they stepped apart again.

“It’s just an experiment, we swear!”

“Who are you and what do you want?”

They waited for a response that was not forthcoming.  Still unable to clearly make out her face, they all just stared at her.  But Laura had recognized the girl instantly, how could she not?

“Rosie,” she spoke softly, shaking her head in confusion.

“Rosie?  As in your little sister Rosie?” Danny exclaimed as she swiveled her head to check the pictures Laura had plastered all over the room.

That was enough to spark Carmilla’s attention.  Unnoticed, she swiveled slightly in the desk chair to get a look at the newcomer.

“I recognized her from the pictures Laura, I didn’t know what to do,” Perry shrugged, at a loss as she moved to stand by LaFontaine on Carmilla’s side of the room.

Laura’s focus remained on her sister.

“You’re here.  But how?  And…why?”

Laura began to panic.  She wasn’t thinking clearly, all she could think was what their situation must look like to her little sister without context.  She had to get Rosie out of here.  She stood up quickly, eyes wildly surveying the room as she scoured her brain for ways to explain this and get Rosie to leave.

“Look I’m _so_ glad to see you but you can’t be here right now Rosie.  I’m ok and this is totally normal and everything is fine but you just need to not be here, ok?”

Laura spoke with her hands, her arms lifting emphatically in Rosie’s direction to get her point across as she stole a nervous glance at Carmilla.  All the others were too busy watching Laura to notice how Rosie flinched away from her sister’s raised hand.  All except Carmilla.  Her full attention was now squarely on the interaction taking place in front of her.  If she looked close enough she could see the girl shaking.

Laura continued talking, but there was no response from Rosie.  She just stood there, frozen.  Eventually Laura trailed off and looked up, finally sensing that something wasn’t right.  Her sister was just staring at the floor.

“Rosie,” Laura started again, worry creeping in, “why did you come all the way here?”

No answer, although Carmilla thought she heard a stifled sob.

“Rosalie,” Laura spoke her sister’s full name firmly, “look at me.”

Slowly, Rosie lifted her head until she was looking her big sister in the eye.

Laura’s face paled and she gasped for air as she stumbled back into her desk, desperately grabbing for something to hold her upright.  She managed to stabilize herself, as everyone else in the room was stuck staring at her sister’s face.

The girl’s right eye was almost swollen shut, menacing shades of black and blue and purple.  Her lip was split open, the skin around her mouth red and angry.

With all eyes on her, Rosie’s face burned with embarrassment and shame and she let her head sink towards the floor once more.  Carmilla could see that she was shaking harder now.  As she glanced over, she noticed that Laura was shaking too.

Laura slowly stepped forward, hot tears stinging her eyes.  She placed a gentle hand below Rosie’s chin and brought her head back up.

Realizing the magnitude of what was taking place between the two girls in the center of the room, the others present dared not move or even speak, lest they disturb the fragility of the moment.

Laura, softly brushing her thumb over Rosie’s cheek, looked up into her sister’s tired eyes.  Laura was shorter than her younger sister, but only by a little.  And in this moment, her sister looked so much smaller than she was.  As she looked at Rosie, the fury that filled her made it hard to breathe, but she knew she had to ask.

“What happened?”

Laura asked, but she knew the answer already.  That’s why she was so filled with rage.  Her sister just shook her head.

“He did this to you, didn’t he?”

Rosie looked her sister in the eye and nodded.

  
And with that, Laura just couldn’t take it anymore.  She threw herself forward to embrace her baby sister.  But Laura’s arms came up empty as Rosie jumped back, a pathetic cry escaping her lips.

Something inside Laura shattered as she realized just how broken Rosie was.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry Laura,” Rosie finally spoke, her head shaking.

Laura took a deep breath.

“No.”

Rosie stared at her.

“You don’t apologize for this.  This is not your fault, none of this is your fault.”

Rosie nodded, and even managed the tiniest of smiles for her sister, before furtively glancing at Carmilla.

The two locked eyes for a second, and Carmilla was taken aback by all that she saw.  Rosie quickly looked back to her sister for an explanation, but Carmilla was as mesmerized by the girl as ever.  If only she could figure out why.

“Oh, right, that,” Laura stuttered, “We should probably explain that, huh?  But you know what Rosie, that’s not important to me right now, you are.  Tell me everything.  How did you get here, why did Dad let you come…oh my goodness Dad, what did he say?  What did he do?  You’re not here because Dad _murdered_ him are you?!”

Rosie started to laugh, but it turned into a sob that she quickly suppressed, shaking her head.

“I didn’t tell him.”

Laura’s eyes grew wide and she opened her mouth to speak, but Rosie talked over her.

“I couldn’t Laura, I just couldn’t, ok?  I couldn’t tell him, I couldn’t even look him in the eye…not like this.  He was out of town anyway, something for work.  I used the emergency credit card to get myself here.  I left him a note and all my flight information.  And I left a message on the landline once I got to campus.  He’ll know where I am.  He’ll know that I’m with you, that I’m safe.”

For a moment, Laura’s heart soared.  Her baby sister was in trouble, and she ran all the way to _Austria_ to be with her.  It was what she had been building to for so long.  Rosie wasn’t one to break; even with Laura it would sometimes take a while to wear her down.  She was always reassuring her baby sister that that’s what she was there for, to be leaned on.  And now, it appeared that all her hard work as big sister had paid off.  All the bullies, identity crises, girl problems and boy problems that she’d been there for over the years had fostered the kind of relationship Laura remembered dreaming of when she first laid eyes on baby Rosie in the hospital.  Their Dad loves to tell the story of little Laura’s first words to Rosie.  “I promise to always protect you and keep you safe”.

Not that she had wanted something like this to happen of course.  But it had happened.  And Laura knew in her heart of hearts that Rosie’s reaction to something like this could have been much, much worse than just running away from home.  Especially since when Rosie ran, she ran here, to her.  And now she was going to make it ok again.  She was going to make Rosie ok again, and honor that promise she had made sixteen years ago.

Except right now she had a vampire tied up in the middle of her room who may be a kidnapper, and who knows what else.  She sighed as she rubbed her forehead, hoping an easy solution to both problems may be dislodged from somewhere deep in the recesses of her brain.  She wondered if college was like this for everyone else.

“Rosie look-“

“If you’re about to _not_ explain why you have someone tied up in your dorm room, think again Laura,” Rosie cocked her head to the side and raised her eyebrows expectantly, already feeling more comfortable and confident now that she was finally with her sister.

“This is not your problem ok, right now I need to-“

“Laura.  Come on,” Rosie looked to her left and right, eyeing the strangers that surrounded her as her sister attempted to air her dirty laundry, “I’m leaning, alright.  Just, let me lean, for now.”

Laura looked around at her friends, all very much on edge and uncertain about what was appropriate behavior here.  She looked down at her stupid vampire roommate, who now probably posed the same threat to her sister as she did to every other girl on campus.  Rosie was right.  Now that she was here, she was safe.  She could be kept safe.  And she was obviously going to be staying in this room until it was time for her to go back home, no doubt at the behest of their father as soon as her realized she was gone.  So she had to know.

“Alright, point made.  But we _are_ talking about this later, got it?” Laura looked sternly at her sister, and satisfied with the small nod she received in response, she moved on, “As for this…I really doubt you’re gonna believe anything we have to say about it.  But we can try.”

“Plus we’ve got proof!” LaFontaine offered excitedly with a smile at their new friend, “Hi.  I’m LaFontaine.  You can call me LaF if you want.”

Rosie looked over, slightly startled.  But the smile was genuine, the words warm…and she was calm again.

“Proof of what?” she asked, with a small smile of her own.

LaFontaine suddenly looked uncertain.  Was it really their place to break this news?  They barely knew this girl, who knew what her reaction could be.

Carmilla felt the hesitation, so she took the job upon herself.

“That I’m a vampire,” she said calmly.

As soon as the last word was uttered, the tension in the room came to a head as its other occupants held their breath anxiously.

Rosie looked around for a second, puzzled.

“Rosie, say something sweetie,” Laura urged.

“What’s happening here?” Rosie asked, still looking quizzically from person to person.

“I think they’re waiting for you to laugh or tell them they’re all crazy,” Carmilla offered.

Rosie cracked a smile at that, and she shared an inexplicable look with the accused vampire.

“Ok, I’m not sure if you’re all aware, but at this precise moment there is a small army of lawn gnomes participating in what appeared to be a war reenactment outside your building,” Rosie’s mischievous smile grew bigger to match the smirk that was appearing on Carmilla’s face, “I had to solve a riddle at the front gate just to get on campus.  It was given to me by the STATUES. _Because they could tell I wasn’t a student_.  This revelation is not the weirdest thing to happen to me in the last hour, not by a mile.”

While the others in the room looked around, dumbfounded by Rosie’s seeming nonchalance, Carmilla could hardly contain her fascination.  This girl was not to be underestimated.

“So, supernatural stuff is going on all around you and you’re…ok??” Laura’s awe at her sister was plastered all over her face.

An innocent, childlike grin broke out on Rosie’s face, and Carmilla felt herself physically drawn to her.  She saw the impish spark that had lit up behind the girl’s eyes, eyes that were somehow simultaneously the color of the Yellow Sea at dawn _and_ a forest of pine tress covered in moss.  Carmilla was baffled by the odd connection she felt with this girl she knew next to nothing about.  It was completely platonic, but at the same time it was something different than just a friendly attachment.  She was mystified.

“Laura, you’re talking to the girl who cried herself to sleep on her 11th birthday because her Hogwarts letter never came.  The girl whose biggest dream in life at the tender age of two was to be a mermaid,” Rosie’s enthusiasm dulled for a second as she focused her soft gaze on Laura, “The girl who constantly begged her big sister to let her ride on the handlebars of the bike so that, just for a moment, it would feel like she was flying.”

Carmilla was sure she saw Laura’s eyes get misty.

“So yea, finding out that vampires apparently exist and that statues and lawn gnomes are sentient is not quite enough to throw me off my game big sister.”

Carmilla was impressed, to say the least.  So was the rest of the room.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” Laura said with a smile, shaking her head in sheer disbelief.

“What’s amazing is the fact that you have a vampire tied up in your room.  Are we talking friendly Count von Count here or something more along the lines of Bram Stoker’s Dracula?”

Carmilla scoffed loudly, clearly offended.

“Dracula?   _Please_.  I was around when that crybaby of a man was turned.  I predate him by _decades_.  I honestly couldn’t even tell you where all the macho horror origin story crap came from.”

Her feathers clearly ruffled, Carmilla continued to grumble.  From what Rosie could hear her not so inner monologue rant was aimed at sexism in media through the ages.

“To be honest Rosie, we’re not really sure.  I guess at this point we would classify her as “Angel early season one of Buffy”.  We know what she is, but we have no idea what side she’s on yet,” Laura was rubbing her head again.

“I don’t understand.  Has she done something to you?  Has she hurt someone?”

“I guess you’re in need of some backstory.”

“Yea I guess I am.  Like who are these people.  Other than LaF, we’ve already met,” Rosie flashed a smile in LaFontaine’s direction, which was received and returned, “Is the tall one Betty?  I feel like you mentioned that Betty was tall. ”

Danny scowled as Rosie looked her over.  Laura sighed deeply, shaking her head.

“That isn’t Betty.  That’s Danny, and next to LaFontaine is Perry.  Betty is…well she’s missing.”

“Missing?  And you think black beauty here is responsible?”

“Yes.  Well, maybe.  As well as-“

“There’s more?  More than a missing roommate possibly abducted by some rogue vampire that you now have tied up in your room?  God what is this place?  Like, definitely keep talking but honestly where even are we.”

Laura, with help from the others, explained in as much detail and as quickly as possible the events leading up to the vampire capture.  By the end, Rosie felt like her head was spinning just a bit, but she took it like a champ.  She took a minute to absorb everything as she finally set her bags down alongside Laura’s bed.

“Ok so, what now?” she asked.

“What now?” Laura repeated, confused.

“Yea, what now.  As in, what’s our next step?”

“Rosie, there is no-“

“I’m gonna go ahead and stop you right there.  I’m here Laura.  And even though it may not be for long, I’m staying here, with you, as long as I’m allowed to.  And you’ve managed to get yourself into a mess.  I’m no more equipped to deal with any of this than you are, but it seems like you need all hands on deck.  So please, let _me_ help _you_ for once.”

Laura, exhausted, gave a tired nod of her head, conceding defeat.

“Ok.”

“Great!  So, what’s the next step?”

“Well, I think we should return to my health services idea.  As Rosie stated, none of us are equipped to deal with…whatever this is,” Perry interjected suddenly.

She received the same vacant stares she’d encountered the first time she posited the idea, and she was running out of patience.

“Well, what other option do we have?  Keep her here, tied up, watching her every second?  Starving her until she confesses?”

At the mention of starvation, the others looked at each other like they’d all just had the most brilliant idea of their young lives.  Perry was not amused that what was meant as satire of their situation was about to become their actual plan.

“No, no you cannot do that.  I was merely trying to shed light on how ridiculous this all is.  Laura you _cannot_ starve another student in your dorm room!  I’m pretty sure that’s considered misconduct in the student handbook!”

“Yea, Laura, I agree with Alison Hendrix over here.  Are you sure that’s such a good idea?”

“Alison Hendrix?” Perry questioned.

“Oh, yea like, you may look like a soccer mom but I’m about 1500% sure that you could, and would, kill a man with your bare hands.”

And with that the tension was broken.  The air filled with laughter instead, just for a second.  Even Carmilla let out a small chuckle.  But as quickly as it had come, the levity was once again gone as silence permeated the room.  The guests bid Laura goodnight, the starvation idea being the new unspoken plan, under protest.

And then there were three.


	2. Black and Blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Abuse mention, self-harm mention

There was silence once everyone had gone.  Rosie stole another quizzical glance at the mysterious vampire before excusing herself.

“I’m gonna take a shower if that’s cool,” she announced.

“Sure sweetie,” Laura smiled, “Oh but, just be careful.  I swear I can hear the claw-foot tub walking around in there sometimes.”

Laura stared hard as the door shut behind her baby sister.  She stared as if she could just send her healing big sister vibes straight through it, into Rosie’s heart, and it would fix her.

She finally broke eye contact, if for nothing else than pure exhaustion on all fronts. She turned and was reminded, she had someone tied up in her room.

“Look, I’m sorry, I’m sorry about all of this.”

“Sure you are, cupcake.”

A pause.

“I really am.”

Sincerity. Carmilla knew it when she heard it, which wasn’t often.  But whenever she did it always tended to make her uncomfortable.  She wasn’t used to it.

Silence she was used to.  And so she sat, in silence.  Laura joined her. Until, after a short while, Laura caught Carmilla tilting her head, seemingly towards the bathroom. Laura wasn’t sure if she was listening _to_ something or _for_ something in particular.  She didn’t have a chance to figure it out, because it suddenly occurred to her that there should be water running by now. Turned out she wasn’t the only one having the same thought.

“Shouldn’t there be water running by now?”

Carmilla always kept her tone dry and flat, and Laura just assumed it was a part of her natural affectation.  Until now. But she didn’t have time to ponder why her ridiculous vampire roommate would have to force herself to act nonchalant about Rosie.  Not right now.

She strode confidently to the door, but stopped short of opening it as a pit formed in her stomach.  Her mind began twisting and turning down dark paths, flashing images in her mind of all the worst case scenarios she could find behind the bathroom door. All the things her baby sister could be doing.  All the things she could be doing to herself.

She shivered as her skin turned ice cold, but she attempted to shake it off as she cracked the door.

Rosie stood in front of the mirror, having taken off her hoodie, and she seemed to be examining herself.  Laura watched as she turned her arm around to look at bright purple bruises that wrapped around her biceps, peeking out from under her shirtsleeves. Laura’s breath caught in her throat as she realized that those bruises looked an awful lot like handprints. There were others too, older, covering her arms.  The overlapping and multicolored shapes painted her arms green and yellow.  Laura stepped into the room and silently closed the door behind her as Rosie slid her shirt off her shoulder, revealing a more visceral scene of small cuts and abrasions, and the light markings of those that had turned to scars.

“Rosie,” Laura gasped.

The startled girl reacted like a trapped animal, quickly turning around and backing herself into the corner of the small room.  Her eyes were wild and her skin pale, breath coming out heavy as if the wind had been knocked out of her and she was desperate to breathe again.

“How long has this been going on Rosie?”

“What? No, Laura, this,” she motioned to her face, “this only happened once.”

“What, he only hit you once?  Then what is all that, all over you?”

Rosie opened her mouth to respond, but she stopped as she came to a realization.

“Can we not do this now?,” she whispered, glancing at the door, “Doesn’t she have like, superhuman hearing or something?”

Laura was confused for a just a second, before it hit her that Rosie was talking about Carmilla.  Her initial thought was to say no, until she remembered the “she so had it coming” incident. Rosie was probably right. Carmilla could hear every word coming from this bathroom.  But right now, her sister clearly needed to feel safe.

“I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t hear an air horn if it was pointed right at her. I mean, vampires turn into bats right? And bats have terrible hearing…or something.”

“Bats are blind Laura, not deaf,” she snapped, still on edge.

“Right, anyway, she definitely can’t hear us, ok?”

“Laura,” as she spoke she began to shake again, which she tried to hide, “I’m better now, ok?  I’m with you and I’m safe and I’m-no why are you shaking your head?  I’m…I’m better.”

“Rosie, we both know that’s not true.  And that may not be true for a long, long time.  But no matter what, I’m here, and I’m always gonna be here. We are _always_ going to have each other.  It’s like I’m always telling you, I’m your tree…all you’ve gotta do is lean and I’ll support you.  I won’t _ever_ let you fall. I’ve got you, ok? I’ve got you.  So please, answer my question.  What is all that?”

Rosie looked down at herself, shaking harder than before.  She wrapped her arms around her body, pulling further and further into the corner, and into herself.

“He only hit me the one time.”

She kept repeating it, as if she could make it true simply by saying it enough times.

“Rosie-“

“It’s true ok!  The rest…he didn’t mean any of it. Just, some shoving sometimes, and he would grab me too hard…on accident.”

Rosie began pulling on her ear; something Laura had seen her do since they were kids. It was sort of like her replacement for the comfort of sucking her thumb.  It was her way of trying to keep herself calm.  Laura didn’t want to cause a meltdown, but she had to understand.

“Shoving? Rosie your back-“

“That wasn’t him!  I mean, it wasn’t the shoving. It was just…he never paid any attention to what he was shoving me into.  Walls, doors, fences…and sometimes if I was on the floor or the ground-“

“The ground?!  Why would you be on the ground what was he-“

“I mean I wouldn’t call it kicking ok, like sometimes he would leave me there and then trip over me or something because he forgot I was there and he would get mad…I don’t know.”

Rosie suddenly trailed off; whatever fight had been left in her voice, in her eyes had all but vanished.  As if she were finally hearing herself for the first time.

All Laura wanted to do was rush to her sister’s side.  It physically pained her to stand still, but she worried that if she made too quick a move she would startle Rosie again and just end up causing her more pain.  And she was not going to let that happen.  She was not going to be another source of pain for her little sister.

She slowly reached out a hand across the small space, and she took a small step forward to help bridge the gap.  Rosie grabbed her sister’s hand and clung to it like it was the only thing keeping her alive.  And in that moment, that may as well have been true.  She stepped slowly from the corner and into her sister’s warm embrace. Laura held her tight until Rosie eventually pulled away to wipe the tears from her eyes.  She noticed with a bittersweet sigh of relief that the only thing covering her sister’s arms were bruises, nothing self-inflicted.

Though she seemed better, Rosie was still shaking.  So Laura firmly grabbed her elbow to support her.

“I’ve got you,” she repeated.

A sudden calm seemed to wash over Rosie.  The shaking ceased, and a look of determination set in her features. She took a step back as she pulled her shirt over her head and let it drop to the floor of the bathroom, revealing to Laura all that was hidden underneath.

She shifted uncomfortably, suddenly nervous again after her moment of bravery, and painfully self-aware.  But Laura put on a brave face for her.

“I’ve still got you,” she said again, “Always.”

Rosie nodded, steeling herself as she tugged her jeans to the floor and stepped out of them.

Laura ached as she looked at her sister.  She remembered an analogy her mother used to make about the two of them, it’s where the tree thing had come from.  Laura was the tree, and Rosie was a flower, planted at Laura’s base. Laura’s job was to give her shade, protection.  Keep her safe from the elements of life.  How did this beautiful flower of a girl somehow become the canvas of such abuse? How could she, as big sister, have let this happen to her?  As if she could read Laura’s mind, Rosie began to speak.

“Laura,” her voice wavered, “how did this happen?”

A sob choked itself free, and her hand flew to her mouth to quiet it. Rosie’s knees wobbled. Laura took a chance and moved quickly forward to catch her sister as she collapsed.  They ended up curled together on the floor of the bathroom, Rosie finally cracking herself open and allowing all the pent up emotions to be released.  Laura had no idea how long this had been going on, how long it had been that Rosie had to keep all this inside.  But from the way the tears were flowing, it had to have been longer than Laura could even fathom.

Rosie was grabbing for Laura’s shirt, pulling her closer.  Also something she had done for comfort since she was a baby. Laura wrapped one arm securely around her sister as she shook and wailed and cried, and she brought the other hand to Rosie’s face, stroking her hair, kissing her head, whispering in her ear. Telling her that everything was going to be ok.  Because everything was going to be ok.  She was going to make sure of it.


	3. Little Talks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: mention of abuse

The experience Laura and Rosie shared on that bathroom floor had been intense. But after a few days it became clear that it had been exactly what Rosie needed to finally break herself free from the prison of secrecy and shame she’d kept herself in for so long.

She still startled easily, too easily.  Her first instinct was to recoil from physical touch, even from Laura. They’d accidentally bumped into each other once and before Laura had even realized what was going on Rosie was cowering and apologizing.  Laura had watched as her sister apologized once more, and then flopped down onto the bed with a smile on her face to read a book Laura had picked up for her at the library.  It was as if she didn’t even realize what she was doing.  Even though she knew she faced no threat from anyone around her, the submissive behavior had been so normalized for her that it was second nature, muscle memory.

But more and more Laura was catching glimpses of the Rosie she knew. Perry had taken it upon herself to fill Rosie to the brim with baked goods, and was even teaching her a thing or two. Rosie’s batches kept coming out burnt somehow, but Perry wasn’t letting her get discouraged. And she tended to make a mess, usually getting flour on her face, among other things.  The other day Laura had watched as Perry licked her thumb and wiped a spot on her sister’s face.  The kind of thing a mom would do.  Rosie didn’t flinch.

As soon as Danny found out Rosie was an athlete (she’d ridden horses all her life and was a champion archer, as well as being an All Star soccer goalie and first basemen) that’s all the two talked about together.  Danny even invited her to hang out with the Summer Society. She promised to take her to some secret spot they had in the woods, apparently the natural rock climbing back there couldn’t be beat.  Laura almost cried when she saw how excited Rosie was.

As for LaFontaine, it was a miracle anyone else even got any time with Rosie. At their first chance, they bombarded her with questions about the riddle from the statues. As students, none of them had ever interacted with the stone sentries, and LaFontaine’s curiosity was getting the better of them.  Before long, the two had even hatched a plan to hunt down the lawn gnome army. LaF kept mumbling about probing, which made Rosie laugh every time.  Laura had no idea how to express to them how grateful she was for that.

Two days went by.  Laura sat on her bed, quietly working on schoolwork and attempting to ignore the fact that she still had someone tied up in her room.  Rosie had just entered and announced that being around Perry made her want to rewatch Orphan Black.  She plopped down onto Carmilla’s bed as if it were her own, which it basically had been for the last two days, and pulled her laptop out of her bag to open Netflix. Laura watched, slightly annoyed, as she noted that her sister hadn’t pulled out any headphones. She prepared to give a stern sisterly lecture about needing quiet to do her work, but was quickly rendered speechless. She and Carmilla both watched as Rosie got up and placed the laptop on Laura’s desk, the screen facing more towards Carmilla than herself.  She pressed play, and then lay back down on the bed as the episode began.  Laura watched Carmilla, whose usually stoic features were now very clearly giving away her intrigue.  Carmilla stared at Rosie for a while, before wordlessly turning her attention to the screen, where poor Sarah Manning had just witnessed her clone’s suicide.  No words had been spoken, the two hadn’t even made eye contact, but there they sat essentially watching Netflix together.  Laura was trying to wrap her head around the concept when her phone rang.

“It’s Dad.”

The mood in the room shifted drastically, and Rosie slowly reached out to pause the show. Laura answered the phone, and then talked to him for a bit before handing it over to Rosie.  She took it, her hand shaking.

“Daddy.”

The first thing he did was to make sure she was ok.  As soon as he was sure she was, he yelled.   But Rosie could tell, just as she could with Laura, when he was more scared than angry.  She had scared him, and now he was expressing that fear in the only way he knew how as a parent.  When he was done he made sure to tell her how much he loved her, before asking to be handed back to Laura. Rosie could hear him yelling at her too, but it didn’t last long.  He talked for a long time before Laura finally hung up.  The information Laura relayed should’ve made Rosie happy; instead it just made her feel worse.

Apparently their Dad had contacted Rosie’s school shortly after coming home and finding out what she’d done.  She’d been an exemplary student, about to graduate even though she was only 16. She’d excelled at reading as a kid, which led to her skipping a grade.  Then she’d fast tracked her way through high school in three years, landing herself on the honor roll every quarter.  Only given the vague excuse of “emergency circumstances” the school had agreed to still let Rosie graduate as long as she finished all requirements by the end of the year, even if that be outside of the school.

He was letting her stay.

While she was extraordinarily grateful that she would be able to stay with her sister as long as she needed to, she suddenly began to feel sick to her stomach. Because if her dad had done all that before he had even called them, gone out of his way to make sure Rosie could stay with Laura, away from home and away from him…well that could only mean one thing.

He knew.

§~§~§

 

Turns out the thought had occurred to Laura too.  The sisters had a long talk about what that meant, what to do about it.  It took Rosie hours to build up enough courage to call her father back and talk to him about it.

No matter what she said, how many times she tried to apologize; he made it clear that the only thing that mattered to him was that she was safe. That she _felt_ safe.  And if leaving did that for her, if it was what needed to be done to make sure she didn’t get hurt again, that was all he needed to know.  He gave Laura another lecture, this time about staying safe and taking care of each other.  Even though he knew they’d both been doing that all their lives and that they’d be ok. He just had to fulfill his fatherly duty.

He also made a very serious promise to Rosie, not to do anything stupid no matter how badly he may want to.  If they were going to do anything about it, they would do it the right way, when she came home.  By the end of it both sisters were crying, and they could swear they heard a crack in his voice too. But he told them he wouldn’t hang up until he heard his girls laughing, his favorite sound.  So he proceeded to tell the story of how baby Rosie got her hands on a bag of frozen peas.  To this day no one knows how, but she did.  And she also somehow managed to break open the bag and pour the contents out onto the kitchen floor.  When little Laura saw what Rosie had done, she had screamed for her parents, “Mom, Dad! Rosie pea-d all over the floor!”

Before long their dad’s storytelling prowess, which he had been honing with them since they were babies, had the girls in stitches.  Satisfied that he had successfully cheered his daughters back up, there was a tearful goodbye, this time tears from laughter. Once they had hung up, the girls were still on a childhood story high, and they carried on reminiscing late into the night until eventually they both lost the battle with sleep.

Once they had been safely asleep for a while, Carmilla turned to look at them, cuddled up together in Laura’s bed.

She had learned a lot today.

§~§~§

 

It had been three days since they’d decided to starve Carmilla.

Rosie awoke that morning to a note on her pillow from Laura.  She’d had to leave early for class, and she’d wanted to warn Rosie to be careful.  Conflicting schedules meant no one would be able to come be with her until later in the afternoon. She suggested Rosie try hanging out at the library, as long as she was out before dark.

Rosie knew Laura just didn’t want her to stay in the room by herself. This would be the first time Rosie had been left alone with her, and she was sure that was Laura’s intention. At the thought of her, Rosie lazily rolled over to check in.  She was still tied up, still hunched over in what looked to be the same position she’d been in last night.  Rosie wondered if she ever slept, if she even needed to.

As if she could feel Rosie’s eyes on her, the desk chair suddenly swiveled, and the two locked eyes.

Rosie figured she should feel…something, anxiety or nerves or fear. But looking into those eyes she felt nothing but calm.

Rosie sat up and quickly pulled her messy hair into a bun to keep it away from her face. She never broke eye contact. The two sat staring at each other for what felt like forever, eyeing each other with what could only be classified as suspicious curiosity.  Finally, Rosie slid slowly to the edge of the bed.

“Just because you’re my sister’s hostage doesn’t mean you’re unworthy of an official introduction.  My name is Rosalie. Rosalie Hollis. Most people just call me Rosie,” she lifted her arm as if to shake hands, but quickly sat on them instead to try and cover up her error.

Carmilla didn’t move.  Rosie started to think she wasn’t going to say anything.  Just when she was about to give up waiting, Carmilla spoke.

“My name…my name is M-“

She stopped.  Rosie could see an internal war raging in her eyes.  Then suddenly it was gone, and her features hardened.  She looked angry.  Rosie had a feeling the anger had nothing to do with her.

“Carmilla. My name is Carmilla. You know that,” she said roughly.

“I do know that.  Just as you already knew that my name is Rosie.  But like I said, you’re worthy of a formal introduction same as anyone else,” Rosie offered absentmindedly as she made her way to the corner of the room to rummage for sustenance.

If Rosie had been paying attention, she would’ve seen how hard the word “worthy” hit Carmilla.  But she wasn’t, so she kept talking.

“Does Laura drink anything other than cocoa?  Does she eat anything other than cookies?  I love junk food like any other human being but I’m pretty sure my sister should be dead by now.  I wonder if Perry has coffee,” she had her phone out in a flash, her fingers flying as she crafted a desperate SOS to send to her surrogate mom, “Hopefully she’ll get this before I starve to death-“

Rosie stopped, the awkward embarrassment that was her family curse seeping from her pores.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, sitting back down on the bed.

Carmilla turned away from her, refusing to meet her eye.

“I really am.”

There it was again. That Hollis sincerity she kept hearing. Somewhere deep down, buried under three hundred years of life, she felt a tug.  There was some sort of tingling feeling, or was it burning? She didn’t know and she didn’t care. She had to shut this down. But Rosie was talking again.

“I don’t understand anything about vampire physiology, or if you even have physiology, but would it be cheating to give you actual food? Or would that not even help you? Because I could have Perry bring extra-“

“Look I’m fine ok just let it go and back off!”

Carmilla tried to look extra intimidating, but upon glancing at Rosie it was clear it wasn’t working.  Rosie sat calmly, looking at her with an expression Carmilla couldn’t quite read. It wasn’t pity or sympathy. It was more than that.

“No. You’re not.”

“What?” Carmilla spat defensively.

“You’re not fine.  But that’s ok.”

Carmilla was thrown, but only for a second.

“What do you care anyway?” she threw out, feigning disgust.

“Well, I don’t know anything about your life but from what I’ve seen here so far, you’ve gotten yourself into quite the mess.  My sister and her friends think you’ve done some pretty gruesome things, and right now it’s them against you,” she paused, as if wanting to get the next part just right, “I love my sister pretty much more than life itself, and if it came down to it right this second I would choose her over you without even having to think about it.  But that’s not the situation we’re in, and to be completely honest with you I don’t think it’s fair that her corner is full while yours is empty.”

Carmilla had to fight to keep her jaw off the floor.  What was happening here?

“In this dire, life and death situation my sister seems to have forgotten one of my mother’s most favorite pieces of wisdom.  Which is odd, since dire, life and death situations are when wisdom is most useful.”

Carmilla could feel her expression changing against her will.  Urging Rosie to finish the thought, share the wisdom.

“Everyone needs someone.”

Those three words slammed into Carmilla harder than anything she could’ve expected. It was a fight to keep herself neutral, a fight she was going to lose sooner rather than later.

“You’re not fine,” Rosie repeated, “You’re not fine but that’s ok. It’s ok because I’m not fine either.”

For once, she noticed, Rosie wasn’t shaking.  But Carmilla was.

“We don’t have to be not ok together, but I think it’s important for you to know that while you’re over there being not ok, someone else is over here being not ok too.”

In an instant Carmilla finally understood Rosie’s expression.  It was empathy.

She felt something crumbling inside.  Something old and dead crumbling and giving way to whatever these fresh feelings were that she was being forced to feel.  Even as her anger over the feelings was building, it occurred to her that it didn’t hurt.  Not like she always thought it would.

She looked over at Rosie, still just as calm and just as open, as if she were waiting for Carmilla to finally contribute.

Carmilla cleared her throat.

“So that punk chick, Sarah?  What ends up happening to her?”

Rosie smiled a wise, knowing smile.  Carmilla could feel her cheeks flushing, which scientifically made no sense since blood hadn’t pumped through her body for over three hundred years. But she could feel the heat nonetheless. Rosie was too busy setting up the laptop to notice, although Carmilla had a feeling she knew it was happening anyway. She had been right. This girl was not to be underestimated.

§~§~§

 

They made it almost to the end of episode two, when Sarah meets Alison for the first time.  Alison had just screamed at Sarah to leave the shed when the dorm door flew open, a breathless Perry on the other side.  Rosie quickly hit pause.

“Rosie sweetheart I got your text, I came as soon as I could! I was in a school-wide floor don meeting but I told them it was an emergency.  I’ve made a pot of coffee, and there’s a casserole in the oven. A batch of brownies is going in after. Can you wait for the casserole? I can whip something up quicker if you’re starving.  I can’t believe Laura left you here with nothing but soda and candy.  I mean honestly what was she thinking?!”

Rosie and Carmilla both stared at Perry for a second before locking eyes briefly and turning to look at the frozen image of Alison Hendrix on the screen. Carmilla looked back at Perry again and smirked.

“I see it now.”

§~§~§

 

It had been five days since they’d decided to starve Carmilla.

Rosie burst into the empty dorm room, her shirt covered in an odd colored stain. Rosie, distracted by the stain, missed the hint of a smile that tugged at the edges of Carmilla’s lips when she saw who had entered.

“Did you miss your mouth there squirt?  Was your science bro too busy to feed you on your tour?”

“Ah yes, the infant jokes.  I haven’t tired of those at all in the last two days.  You do realize Laura is only three years older than me, right? And the others aren’t much older than that. To you that’s a blip, like a day. Oh, in case you weren’t aware, a day is the amount of time it takes the earth to turn completely around on its axis while it orbits the sun.  You are aware that the solar system is heliocentric right?  Or did you miss Galileo’s lecture on that?”

“Mm, before my time by about 50 years or so.  I did, however, have the pleasure of attending one of the last lectures of a notable student of his.  Really fascinating stuff.”

“Oh yea?  How many dinosaurs were in attendance?  Or were they all in the geocentric camp?”

Carmilla smirked in Rosie’s direction, before sighing.

“We are both being wholly unoriginal.  We can do better than this.”

“Yea well I’m a little busy,” Rosie said, searching through her bags, “LaFontaine got just a tad bit overexcited about science and now I’ve got an unknown substance from a lab on a supernatural campus all over me. I’m pretty focused on replacing this shirt with one that’s less likely to maim or kill me.”

“What?!” Carmilla immediately kicked herself for how sharply it had come out.

“Why Miss Karnstein, is that concern I hear?” Rosie glanced at Carmilla to gauge her reaction.

“More like caution.  To keep whatever that is away from me.”

“Ah, come on, there had to be a sprinkle of concern in there somewhere,” Rosie smiled wide as she pulled what she had deemed an acceptable shirt replacement from one of her bags.

“You flatter yourself princess.”

Rosie turned and headed towards the bathroom, a certain sparkle in her eye.

“And I would’ve pegged you for a better liar.”

§~§~§

 

Once she had changed her shirt, Rosie began shoving her belongings back into her overstressed bags.  Carmilla watched as a couple of guitar picks fought their way loose and landed on the floor. Rosie sighed as she picked them up; looked at them with something close to longing, and shoved them back into the bag.

“Those yours Hendrix?”

Rosie laughed at that, before turning and looking at Carmilla pensively. They spent most of their conversations together looking into each other’s eyes, which was also how most of their emotions were conveyed to each other.

“They were my mom’s.”

A hesitation.

“Were?”

“Yea.”

“She taught you?”

Rosie laughed again.

“She tried with both of us.  I took to it more than Laura did.  Although if she were hard pressed I’m sure she could still strum a few notes. I’m definitely no Hendrix, but it’s never mattered to me whether I was good or not.  What mattered was the connection I felt with her every time I picked up her guitar.  It was a piece of her that was still here with us.”

Rosie quickly looked away.  Carmilla knew she didn’t want to cry.  She waited; let Rosie compose herself so she could continue.

“I left in such a hurry, there was no way I could just grab it and bring it with me.  I had to leave it behind. That hurt almost as much as the black eye,” Rosie managed a smile at her dark joke before getting serious again, “It has this beautiful pearl inlay of two birds in flight, which she used to say represented us, me and Laura.”

Carmilla watched as Rosie seemed to get lost in a memory for a second, before turning her attention back to the conversation.

“Speaking of pearl, you look paler than one.  Are you doing ok?  How are you holding up?”

Carmilla stared thoughtfully at Rosie for a second, as she tried to think of the last time someone, anyone, had asked her any questions like that, and actually cared about the answer.

She couldn’t remember.

“Never better kid.”

§~§~§

 

It had been seven days since they’d decided to starve Carmilla.

“You’re an idiot.”

“Yea probably,” Rosie sighed, fiddling with the bandage wrapped around her arm.

“Does she know?”

“Danny said she wanted to tell her, although that may have just been her wanting to talk to my sister in general, regardless of topic.”

“Figures, since it’s Xena’s fault in the first place,” Carmilla scoffed.

“Listen, I told you, I’m just too competitive.  The Summer Society girls have more experience with the rocks back there.  I shouldn’t have been so ambitious, especially with no equipment.  Trying to free climb a wall too advanced for me was my own fault.”

“They let you do it.”

“To tell you the truth, even you with your super strength and scary teeth would have a hard time stopping me from doing something once I set my mind to it.”

Carmilla raised her eyebrows.

“Down girl,” Rosie chuckled, “That was not a challenge. Besides, it’s just a bad cut. It’ll heal up in no time. Just like the rest of it did.”

Carmilla glanced at Rosie’s face, noting that the mark on her lip had finally disappeared and her black eye had faded to a barely noticeable yellow.

“You’re not so bad now that your face is all one color.”

“And you looked better back when your face actually had some,” Rosie played into the joke, but there was obvious concern on her face, “Are you sure you’re doing alright?  I know you’re a vampire and all but I feel like even you guys aren’t supposed to be this pasty.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

“Well someone has to.”

She was doing that more and more often now, being sincere. Carmilla hadn’t gotten any better at responding.

“Look, none of them are going to let you starve until you die. But why let it get that far?”

“None of them would believe me.  But even if they did, everything gets a lot more complicated once you know.”

“Know what?”

“The things I’ve done.”

Rosie sat back on the bed, lost in thought for a while. Finally she spoke.

“You heard everything from the bathroom that first night.”

Carmilla opened her mouth to speak, a questioning look on her face.

“No no, that wasn’t a question.  I know you heard.  You know what happened to me.  And if I were to tell you I did terrible things too, what would you say to me?”

“You were a victim of-“

“Yea well I’m betting you are too.”

Carmilla hadn’t taken a breath out of necessity in three centuries, but suddenly she felt as though she couldn’t breathe.

“I’m betting you know what it’s like to be pushed around. To be manipulated and scarred and forced into submission.  I’m betting you know what it’s like to be abused.”

It was as if the pleasant bubble they’d spent the last seven days in suddenly shattered, and Carmilla finally realized what it was that had first captivated her about this girl.  When Rosie had walked in, shaking from fear, bloody and beaten and broken, barely any fight left in her tiny body…Carmilla had seen herself.


	4. The Kids Aren't Alright

It took Carmilla two more days before she finally broke down and told Laura everything, after she’d had some sort of vampire starvation seizure. Luckily Laura had been able to give her what was leftover in the “soy milk” to avert disaster. Still, Rosie was glad she’d been with LaFontaine at the library when it happened.

But, Carmilla had told Laura everything, about her murder and her life after death, about her vampire mom who was apparently the Dean.  And about Ell.

Rosie ended up coming back from the library early, her plan having been to check in on Carmilla who had looked particularly sickly when she’d left. Laura filled her in on the bare bones of the story, probably an attempt to keep the grisly details to a minimum. But as soon as Laura excused herself to take a shower, Rosie turned to Carmilla with all her questions in order to fill in the blanks Laura had left.

By the end of it Rosie knew that she had been right.  She had been right about Carmilla knowing what it was like.

§~§~§

 

By the time Laura emerged from the bathroom, Rosie had already sent out emergency meeting texts to the rest of the gang.  They would all be there as soon as they could.  In the meantime, Netflix was on again.

“Is that The Vampire Diaries?  What happened to Orphan Black?” Laura asked with mild curiosity.

“I told her it’s not what she thinks, but she insisted,” Rosie said, her nose crinkling at the show.

Laura made a non-committal noise and turned away from the computer.

“Oh and Laura,” Rosie said, her voice suddenly serious and authoritative, “I asked LaFontaine to bring a supply of blood.  We’re _done_ starving her.”

Laura was taken aback by the harshness of her sister’s tone, on the verge of being a thinly veiled threat.  It wasn’t necessarily aimed at her, but it was clear that a statement was being made. And deep down Laura knew that Rosie was right.  No more.

Satisfied that her point had been made, Rosie resumed her Netflix watching. She struggled through two episodes for Carmilla before the others finally showed up, first LaF and Perry and then Danny.

Each entrance was different.  Perry focused solely on Rosie, asking questions and doting on her to make sure Laura was keeping her adequately fed and taken care of.  Laura tried to act offended, but all it took was one judgmental look from Perry in the direction of the snacks Laura liked to call “food” to shut her up.

Though they probably wouldn’t admit it, Rosie could’ve sworn she saw a hint of a smile on LaFontaine’s face when they walked in and saw the two of them watching the show together.  However, any emotion that may or may have been there was gone when LaF handed over the blood they had managed to bring, some of which Rosie quickly poured into the first cup she could find. She stuck a straw in it as she dropped back down onto the bed to become Carmilla’s drink holder, occasionally reaching her arm out and offering a sip.

When Danny showed up, it was instantly clear that she felt personally betrayed upon seeing Rosie with Carmilla.  The animosity with which she debated Laura on whether or not to release their hostage was further evidence of that fact.

The two of them went back and forth about Carmilla and her mother and trust for what seemed to Rosie like an exorbitant amount of time.  She grew increasingly annoyed and hostile, to which Perry reacted, trying to soothe her and keep her calm.

LaF seemed very on the fence about the whole thing, finally landing on Danny’s side if for nothing else than fear of being eaten. Perry apologized to Carmilla upon also taking Danny’s side, to which Carmilla responded with some quip that essentially boiled down to, I’m good here if you morons are really going to try and take on my ancient and powerful vampire mother by yourselves.

She was calm, never tearing her eyes away from the screen, even as she began to realize Rosie had been right about the show.  One of the vampires started crying and Rosie was pretty sure she could _feel_ the disgust radiating off of Carmilla’s body.

But Rosie was not calm.  Rosie was the opposite of calm.  She was outraged. She slammed the cup of blood down on the desk, silencing the room as she stood.  Even Carmilla’s attention was focused on Rosie now.

“Do any of you even care about _anything_ she’s been through?  Do you??”

“Rosie I’m sorry but no, I don’t,” Danny said, trying to keep her voice level as she addressed Rosie, “She’s _dangerous_.”

“Oh yea? You think she’s dangerous? For what?  Following orders?  That if she hadn’t followed would’ve meant her torture or imprisonment for eternity?”

Danny looked at her incredulously, as if the answer was obvious. Yes, yes of course she was dangerous.

LaF shifted their weight from side to side awkwardly in the middle of the room, not meeting anyone’s eye.  Perry watched Rosie with alarm, no doubt silently blaming the crazy diet for her temper. Carmilla remained stoic on the outside, attempting to keep control of the swirling pool of emotions bubbling up inside as Rosie spoke for her.

“If you had _any idea_ the things that I’ve seen, that I’ve _done_. But none of you would ever _dare_ call me a monster for it. Because I was a victim. Because I was under someone else’s control.  So what’s the difference?”

Perry had softened and was now gripping Rosie’s hand, as if to try and anchor her. Danny only grew angrier.

“No offense kid, but you have no idea what you’re talking about here.”

Rosie winced at the word “kid”.  Later she would wonder how that word was so sharp an insult coming from Danny, but a welcome nickname when it came from Carmilla.

“Don’t I?” she continued, her eyes dark and her voice heavy, “Having evil forced upon you and accepting it is entirely different than _choosing_ evil.”

The weight of that statement stifled the argument temporarily, as the occupants within the room struggled to regain their breath.  Danny’s came back quicker than the others, and she suddenly turned her attention to Laura, refusing to even meet Rosie’s eye.

“I’m sorry to have to be the one to say this but...can your sister’s judgment really be trusted right now.”

It was more of a warning statement than a question, but judging by the color her face turned, she regretted her words immediately.  Unfortunately that didn’t stop the fury.

Before anyone else could even process, Carmilla had turned herself to face Danny and had all but _flung_ herself in that direction.  Rosie, shell shocked by what she’d just heard, still had the presence of mind to reach out and grab hold of the back of the chair, holding it in place.  She noticed the tension on the ropes holding Carmilla down, and it suddenly occurred to her that she could probably rip herself free. She probably could have any time in the last nine days.  But she didn’t.

Rosie didn’t have time to ponder that decision because she suddenly became aware of a growling that seemed to emanate from all around her.  It was Carmilla.

“ _What did you just say?”_ she hissed at Danny.

To her credit, Danny was hiding her fear well, only looking slightly petrified in the face of this snarling beast that had unexpectedly appeared inches away from her face.

LaFontaine’s eyes were wide, a look of pure fear and shock plastered across their face. Rosie couldn’t pinpoint whether that was a reaction to what Danny had said or to Carmilla’s outburst, but she figured it was a combination of the two.

Perry gripped Rosie’s hand like a vice, tightening as she tried to keep herself under control.  Her mouth hung open and her eyebrows were contorted, painting an emotional picture across her face that was undecipherable.

But when Rosie looked to Laura, she realized Danny was afraid of the wrong person. She stood very still, her body shaking at an almost imperceptible level.  Her face was turning cherry red at the amount of effort she was expending to try and stay cool.

Carmilla had also noticed, and had calmed herself down as a result. Once Carmilla was a safe distance away, Danny turned her attention to Laura.  Upon seeing her, Danny went white as a sheet and instantly tried to apologize.

“Laura I-“

“ _Don’t._ ”

Rosie was pretty sure everyone was holding their breath.

“If you _ever_ question my sister’s judgment like that again, _especially_ in relation to what she went through,” she hesitated for a second, “ _we will be done._ ”

Danny nodded at the floor to show that she understood.  Laura took a couple breaths before continuing.

“I don’t know what we’re gonna do about the Dean, but we’re clearly not going to figure it out tonight.  She stays tied up for now, but _no more_ starvation.”

The others nodded and murmured their agreement.  Laura’s words hung in the air with a finality that no one seemed to grasp.

“You can all go now,” she said, cold as ice.

Perry gave Rosie’s hand one last comforting squeeze before following LaFontaine and Danny out of the room.

Laura watched them go, her face a snapshot of apathetic detachment. Without a word she began her nighttime routine, eventually getting into bed and turning off her lamp. The room fell into darkness, with only the dull glow from the laptop screen illuminating Rosie and Carmilla. Still shaken, they shared a silent moment; both hoping if they stared hard enough the gratitude each felt after standing up for one another would be communicated.  After a while, Rosie broke eye contact to reach across the desk and turn the volume down on the computer.  She hit play once more and got herself into bed.

It only took her fifteen minutes to fall asleep. Carmilla found herself taking comfort in the steady breathing.  What had happened today, it had changed everything.

§~§~§

 

Rosie stirred slightly.  Still mostly immersed in the haze of sleep, she could vaguely hear Carmilla ranting, most likely at the laptop.  She knew it must be driving Laura crazy, but oddly enough it made Rosie feel safe.

She drifted off again, but then realized with a start that she could hear another voice, one that did not belong to the sound coming from the laptop. There was someone else in the room. As she roused herself from sleep and sat up, she looked over and saw that Laura was doing the same. Her sister turned on her lamp, and Rosie nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw the interloper standing inches away from her.

She took a breath and relaxed when she realized Laura was talking to him. She called him by his name, Will. She knew him; everything was ok.

It occurred to Rosie too late that regardless of the fact that Laura knew him, he should’ve had no reason to be in her sister’s dorm room in the middle of the night when the only person awake was…

“…she’s a vampire!” Laura cried.

“I know.  She’s kinda not the only one.”

Panic. Rosie felt its vibrations in her bones. She noticed that Carmilla was untied, but her frenzied brain didn’t know how to process that fact. She pulled her legs up and hugged her knees to her chest, telling herself that if she just looked small enough, nothing bad would happen to her.

She’d told herself that before.  It had never worked.

Rosie watched, frozen in fear, as Laura tried to inch closer to her. She was trying to talk her way out of or around the situation.  Her instincts were screaming at her to just get to her baby sister. Protect her.  Keep her safe.  No matter the consequences.

But Will had other ideas.  He saw what Laura was doing, so he placed himself directly in front of Rosie, cutting Laura off from her.

It was Laura’s turn to panic.  Seeing him, this new and dangerous threat, literally standing between her and her sister…something snapped inside of her.  A wild terror began to build, and before she even knew what she was doing her fist was connecting with Will’s neck.

He doubled over, choking.  Laura had a clear path to the door.  But she glanced at Rosie, and she knew she couldn’t do that.  Anything else probably wouldn’t even work, but she wasn’t leaving her sister in this room.  She turned and ran into the bathroom, locking the door even though she knew it wouldn’t hold. He would come for her, and leave Rosie alone. She knew Rosie couldn’t run, but drawing him away from her was enough.

Rosie watched as Will recovered, and immediately went to kick in the bathroom door.  There were sounds of glass breaking, screaming.  Rosie wasn’t sure if the screaming was coming from the bathroom or from her own mouth. She brought her hands up to her ears and tried to shut it all out.

Will was out of the bathroom soon enough, holding her sister in a way that looked painful. Rosie’s heart twisted. She knew that if the roles were reversed her sister would save her, and here she was trembling in a corner while a vampire manhandled Laura.

She quickly realized Will and Carmilla were talking. There was a smile on Carmilla’s face, and the banter they had going back and forth was almost whimsical. Carmilla had just called him a “mama’s boy”.  Rosie was horrified.   She must’ve made some sort of sound to signal that feeling, because Carmilla’s head whipped around in her direction. It was like she had forgotten Rosie was even there.  But when she saw the horror on Rosie’s face, something changed.  Something she saw flipped a switch, and Rosie saw a flicker of the girl she’d spent the last week with.

Rosie broke eye contact when she realized Will was leaning in towards her sister’s neck.  In a flash Carmilla was up and crafting an argument against killing “the target”. But whatever she’d come up with hadn’t worked.

“It’d be worth it just to screw with you,” Will sneered, leaning in once again.

Rosie gasped as Carmilla’s punch hit Will square in the jaw, causing him to fall back towards the bathroom and release Laura.  She stumbled a bit before gathering her bearings and jumping onto the bed, grabbing her sister’s hand as she put herself behind Carmilla and in front of Rosie.

“You’re gonna regret that, Kitty,” Will said menacingly, touching a hand to his face.

He moved towards the door.  Laura thought they were safe, and she stole a glance at Carmilla.  Will saw her focus shift, only for a moment, but he saw his chance.

Carmilla realized what he was going to try and do almost before he did. She saw the look in his eyes; she’d seen that look before.  She knew where he’d gotten it, who he’d learned it from.  And as she glanced at his intended target, for a second she didn’t see Rosie. She saw an 18-year-old girl who had been ripped from her life and her family and her home.

She was not going to let him hurt her.  She was never going to let any of them hurt Rosie the way they’d hurt her.

Rosie screamed as Will lunged at her.  But he never reached her.

The room was suddenly filled with a familiar growling sound, much more vicious than the last time Rosie had heard it.  She looked up and saw…it was Carmilla, but Rosie barely recognized her. In the dim light she saw the glint of sharp teeth that had appeared in Carmilla’s mouth.  She was baring them at him as he recoiled. Her body hadn’t physically changed but she looked so much larger, larger even than Will.  The growling was growing louder as she took a step towards him, a warning.

He held Carmilla’s gaze for a minute, the two of them sharing a moment that neither Rosie nor Laura could ever understand.  Then he turned to leave, and was gone.  It was like he had vanished into thin air.

Laura, still holding tight to Rosie’s hand, moved towards Carmilla and was thanking her profusely for not letting them become Will’s dinner. But Carmilla wasn’t listening. Rosie could tell she wasn’t even looking at Laura, not her face anyway.  She was looking at…her neck?

“Close your eyes,” Carmilla directed at Rosie, though her eyes remained on Laura.

Rosie stammered as Laura looked between the two, both of them confused.

“I said _close your eyes_!” she yelled.

Rosie didn’t need to be told again.  She shut her eyes as tight as she could, squeezing Laura’s hand.

But Laura’s hand was suddenly torn from hers, and she heard a short cry before a quick gust of wind blew past her.  She opened her eyes and Carmilla was gone.  Laura was lying back on the bed, a hand pressed to her neck. Rosie felt the panic begin to bubble up again as she cried out for her sister.

Laura, in pain but sensing Rosie’s fear, grabbed her sister’s hand and squeezed to let her know she was ok.  She winced as she slowly sat up.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!”


	5. Tip of the Iceberg

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning, as fanon collides with canon, this is where the AU starts being drastically different from the canon show in terms of mood. As in, we are still moving through the canon storyline and in the same canon scenes with some of the same canon dialogue, but the mood of those scenes is significantly different. That will probably make more sense once you've read it, but just a warning that characterization is going to be a little different. I try to be as accurate as possible, but the mood is definitely different

Keeping Rosie’s hand clasped tightly in hers, Laura stood and reached around Carmilla’s bookshelf for a hand towel that she promptly pressed to her neck. It came away bloody, but not dangerously so.  As she reached up to touch the wounds, it seemed as though her blood was already clotting. She briefly mused about magical vampire teeth before turning her attention back to her sister.

Rosie was tugging incessantly on her ear, but it didn’t seem absent-minded. There was an element of awareness, alertness in her features as she looked up at her sister with wide eyes. Laura was thankful for this. If Rosie wasn’t ok, their dad was sure to kill her.

“Are you okay?” they both said in unison.

They smiled grimly at each other, the tension of the moment temporarily lifted. But concern quickly returned to Laura’s face.  She reached her hand out to Rosie, gently grabbing hold of her chin and turning her head one way, then the other to check for injury.

“Did he hurt you?”

“No.”

Upon hearing that one word, Laura finally felt as though she could breathe again. Rosie was unharmed.

“I just…froze. I’m sorry Laura I should’ve-“

“No, Rosie you don’t have to apologize.  You had every reason to react the way you did.  All that matters is that you’re safe, that you’re ok.”

“What about you, are you hurt?” Rosie asked meekly, with a nervous glance at Laura’s neck.

Laura sighed and shook her head.

“ _He_ didn’t do this. Carmilla did.”

Rosie felt like all the air had been sucked from her lungs.

“W…what? Why-why would she-“

“I don’t think her intention was to hurt me.  You didn’t see it, but she ran out of here unnaturally fast. _Supernaturally_ fast.  The same way Will did. But we starved her for nine days. What little blood you gave her today couldn’t possibly have made up for that.  What she did to me…she needed to, in order to go after Will.”

Laura suddenly felt a tickle on her neck.  She jumped, only to realize one of her wounds had bled just a little. She quickly covered it with her hand.

“I’m fine, I promise.  Lemme just go take care of this and I’ll be right back out.  Everything is gonna be ok Rosie.”

Rosie managed a smile as she watched her sister enter the bathroom. She peeked over the bookshelf at the dorm room door.  It was closed. Rosie assumed it had been pulled shut by the rush of air created by Carmilla running through it.

As she uncurled herself from the corner, she finally felt like her body was decompressing. Her tight, tense muscles relaxed, and she was able to breathe normally.

Until the door flew open.  She heard it slam into the wall, and panic immediately gripped her again.  She felt it coursing through her veins as sounds of rummaging increased behind her.

She glanced at the bathroom door.  A sudden calm washed over her.  She was ok. Everything was gonna be ok.

This time, it was her turn to protect Laura.

She reached blindly above her to the top of Carmilla’s bookshelf. Her hand closed around something metal, and she pulled it down.  A candlestick. She removed the stump of a candle left atop it and braced herself as she rolled off the bed to face the intruder.

She narrowly missed bumping right into Carmilla, but caused her to drop everything she’d gathered in her hands.  She looked winded.

A strange tension hung in the air, and time seemed to stop for a second as the two stared at each other.

Carmilla could see the worry in Rosie’s eyes.  She’d just fed on the girl’s sister, and here she was looking concerned for her. And then Rosie said her name.

The way she said it…Carmilla would never be able to explain it.  But everything seemed to hit her all at once. The feelings and emotions Carmilla thought long dead that were resurrected by Rosie, the walls that had so easily crumbled for her, the reason she felt so compelled to protect this girl and keep her safe.  It all made sense now as old memories began to resurface.  She didn’t just see herself when she looked at Rosie, she saw…

“Carmilla,” Rosie repeated, her voice heavy with anxiety.

“Are you hurt?” she responded, her voice level and calm.

“No, and Laura’s ok too, she’s in the bathroom-“

“Ok,” Carmilla said, gathering her fallen belongings, “If you could move then, I need to get out of here as quickly as possible.”

Carmilla moved forward, forcing Rosie to sidestep around her. She placed the candlestick back on the bookshelf and faced Carmilla.

“What? Get out of here? Carmilla why-“

“Seriously?!” came a cry from the bathroom doorway.

“What,” Carmilla responded flatly as she began to pack.

“You’re gonna waltz back in here after what just happened without offering up any kind of explanation?” Laura’s voice continued to get louder as she stepped from the bathroom towards Carmilla.

“He got away,” she said quietly, “It’s only a matter of time before Mother comes after me.”

“So what, you’re just gonna run?” Laura scoffed.

“Have you been listening to a word I’ve said about my mother?  Yea, I’m gonna run.”

“If you leave, they’re just gonna come back for us, aren’t they,” Rosie said softly.

As Carmilla turned towards Rosie, her entire demeanor softened.

“It’s nothing personal cutie,” she said.

There was a hint of a smile on her face as her gaze lingered on Rosie a moment longer, but it disappeared as she turned back and continued shoving random possessions into her bag.

“But it is,” Rosie said, her voice growing more confident, “It’s totally personal.”

“Excuse me?” Carmilla stopped packing entirely and squared off with Rosie.

“What was that just now?  What was that before with Will?”

“Look kid, I don’t know what you’re-“

“Please don’t lie to me right now Carmilla.  Just don’t do it.  I _saw_ you.  I saw your face, your eyes, your expression.  Something _happened_. You were going back and forth with Will, but I cried out and something just _flipped_. And just now.  I said your name and you went somewhere.  I thought this was about us, you and me.  Because I know you see yourself in me.  I see myself in you too sometimes.  You may not believe that but I do.  It’s because we see each other differently than the way others see us.  But suddenly it’s so much more than that and I’m struggling to understand what’s happening.”

For a moment, just one split second, it looked to Rosie like she might have made a breakthrough.  But in an instant the defenses were back up, and the Carmilla she had come to know was hidden away.

“I don’t have time for this,” she snapped, turning back to her bag.

Laura, though alive with the fire of defiance and spite, saw something break on her sister’s face.  The flames dimmed.

“Carmilla,” she started warily, “At this point, isn’t it just your word against his that this whole thing even happened?”

Rosie quickly picked up on her sister’s train of thought.

“But if you run, it’ll only prove your guilt.”

Carmilla shook her head and chuckled to herself as she turned to face the sisters.

“So what you’re trying convince me of here is that my best chance would be to _stay_ and somehow come up with a way to justify protecting you both?”

Laura and Rosie glanced at each other, and then back to Carmilla as they began emphatically nodding their heads.  Carmilla looked between the two before throwing her hands up in defeat.

“Fine,” she said coolly, “but only because I have nothing resembling a better plan.”

The sisters breathed a collective sigh of relief.  But it didn’t last long.

“But don’t think for one second that I’m not pissed off.  This,” she said sharply, gesturing between Rosie and herself, “doesn’t make up for the past two weeks.”

“You just bit me!” Laura cried, “I’m pissed too!”

“Fine.”

“Fine!” Laura’s voice was still raised, so she brought it down a notch, “I’m gonna take a shower.  I need to try and do something with this.”

She brought a hand to her neck and she turned towards the bathroom. Carmilla made an involuntary noise of surprise as she looked between Rosie and Laura.

Laura turned around, continuing to step backwards towards the bathroom.

Her tone was tired and dry as she spoke, “I just watched you basically turn yourself into a wild animal in order to protect her.  I’m no longer worried about leaving her alone with you.”

Without another word she stepped into the bathroom and slammed the door, leaving both Rosie and Carmilla dumbfounded.

Rosie stared at the door until she heard the water turn on.  She shook off what had just happened and took quick stock of the situation they were in now, looking Carmilla up and down.

Carmilla was still staring thoughtfully at the bathroom door when her attention was pulled towards her bed.  Rosie had begun clearing away all signs of her presence on Carmilla’s side of the room. Carmilla watched, conflicting feelings swirling around her, as Rosie cleared her stuff from the bed, took her books and other items from the bookshelf, and finally moved her bags to Laura’s side of the room.

Rosie tore her hoodie off and dropped roughly onto Laura’s bed as she rummaged through her backpack for her headphones.  She knew they were in there somewhere.  But after a while her search slowly came to a stop, she could feel Carmilla’s eyes on her.  She sighed.

“Alright look.  I don’t know what the deal is between you and Laura and her friends…and humanity as a whole, but I’m not one to play games.  Not anymore. I didn’t sign up for this Victorian soap opera.  I’ve laid my cards on the table, and now it’s up to you to play your hand.  I’m too exhausted to participate in the drama, you know?”

Carmilla just stared, a peculiar look on her face.

“In fact, I know that you know.  And I’m surprised at you.  This…relationship was only a part of my life for about a year, but you?  You’ve got a couple centuries on me when it comes to dealing with it. Aren’t you tired Carmilla?”

Rosie could’ve sworn she saw Carmilla’s eyes get misty.

“Or you know, don’t share.  I have a feeling this has nothing do with the missing girls.  Like I said, whatever this is, it feels personal.”

Rosie waited for a moment, not expecting much.  She finally nodded, and turned away to plug her headphones into her phone. She had one ear bud in when…

“Somebody I used to know.”

“What?”

Carmilla didn’t say anything else at first.  Rosie could tell it was physically painful for her, to share whatever it was that she was trying to share.  Her fists were clenched so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. She kept shifting her weight from foot to foot, and it was obvious she was perched on the balls of her feet. Ready to run away.

“Somebody that I used to know,” she repeated slowly, mumbling as if her jaw were locked.

“Did I do something that-“

“No, just…,” Carmilla stared at Rosie, her eyes earnest, “somebody that I used to know. That’s all.”

Rosie nodded knowingly, and maintained eye contact until Carmilla chose to break it. Rosie watched her as she fell into her own bed for the first time in over a week.

Silence filled the room, but Rosie felt comfortable.  It hadn’t been much, but it had been a step.  A first step.  She felt confident that more would come, when Carmilla was ready.

When she was ready.

§~§~§

 

When Laura finally emerged from the bathroom, Carmilla was propped up against her bookshelf reading. Rosie was fast asleep.

“I’m surprised you’re still here,” Laura said, standing in the doorway using a towel to dry her hair.

“Just because I’m pissed doesn’t mean my word has no value,” she mused, her eyes still on her book.

“No I mean, normally you disappear at night and sleep all day.  But tonight you stayed.”

Carmilla didn’t say anything, but Laura was perceptive enough to catch her quick glance at Rosie. She already knew as much anyway.

“I’m sure she’ll show you why I stayed any second now,” Carmilla said calmly, finally looking up from her book.

“What do you-“

Laura was cut off by a sudden cry coming from her bed.  Her towel dropped to the floor as she threw herself from the doorway.

“Rosie?!”

But when she laid eyes on her sister, the girl was still sleeping.  Laura watched as she began tossing and turning and thrashing in her sleep, mumbling incoherently.  The look on her sleeping face made it seem like she was going to burst into tears at any moment. She would occasionally utter full words and sentences, all of them things said in fear.

She knew her sister was in distress. She lurched forward, intending to do the only thing she could think of to make it stop.  In a split second Carmilla was standing in front of her, blocking her.

“Carmilla what are you doing I have to wake her up!”

“If you wake her up in the middle of this she is likely to lash out and punch you in the face. While I would personally find that hilarious, I don’t think either of you would enjoy that scenario.”

“I have to do _something_.  I can’t just let her go through this.  Not again,” Laura choked.

“Do you trust me?”

Laura looked at her incredulously. Did she really just ask that? She opened her mouth to say something, but Carmilla spoke again.

“Do you trust me _with her_?”

Laura closed her mouth. She glanced at her sister, still struggling.  She slowly nodded.

“Ok, just watch what I do.”

Laura watched as Carmilla kneeled on the bed.  She turned Rosie toward the wall and gathered her flailing arms.  Then she did something that surprised Laura.  She moved herself forward and lay down next to Rosie, curling protectively around her.  With one hand she kept Rosie’s limbs calm while the other rested on her head.  She pulled the hair out of Rosie’s face and brushed a gentle hand across her forehead, her cheek, her shoulder.  Carmilla turned back to Laura.

“When you do this, try and talk to her. The contact is a start, but depending on how bad it is for her, she might need more help.  Don’t try to wake her, but your voice may be enough to penetrate the nightmare.  It will give her something to hold onto in order to pull herself out of it.”

Laura, wholly unable to process everything that was happening in front of her, just nodded. Her sister was already calming down.

Laura watched as Carmilla leaned in close and whispered something in Rosie’s ear.  She couldn’t hear what was being said, but whatever it was, it was working. Carmilla was able to release her arms, and Rosie had stopped making noise.

Laura breathed a sigh of relief, but she found that it suddenly hurt to breath.  With every beat of her heart, pain shot through her.  What was happening here?  Rosie had only been here a week and somehow Laura’s mysterious vampire roommate was able to comfort her better than her own sister?  The two of them had this instant bond that Laura would never understand.  She knew it was _awful_ of her to even be thinking this, but she was jealous.  Of course she wished her sister had never been hurt like that, and even Carmilla deserved better than the lot she’d been given in this life, but Laura just felt so inadequate as a sister.  She had let this happen, and now she was powerless and ignorant when it came to taking care of her baby sister.  For the first time in their lives, Laura felt cut off from Rosie.  She felt like there was a wall between them that she just couldn’t climb over, and Carmilla was unintentionally adding bricks to it. By doing Laura’s job better.

Laura was pulled from her mental ramblings when she realized Carmilla was staring at her, with a knowing look on her face.  Laura wasn’t sure how long she’d been staring, but she suddenly felt painfully self-aware.

“Here,” Carmilla said quietly, revealing nothing in her tone, “you should take my place.”

“Are you sure?” Laura asked, trying to hide the bitter edge that had manifested in her voice, “She’s ok now.”

“Yes, she is, now. But the nightmares will return. If not tonight, then some other night. And she’s going to need her big sister to help her escape them.”

Laura nodded, choking back the tears that threatened the calm of the moment.  Carmilla began sliding away from Rosie, but was stopped abruptly when the sleeping girl turned over.  Once Rosie settled, Laura watched with bated breath as Carmilla once again began to slide away.  In an instant, Rosie’s hand shot out and was grasping Carmilla’s shirt, pulling her closer. A sob caught in Laura’s throat watching her little sister do that with someone else.  Carmilla noticed.

“She’s asleep, she doesn’t know what she’s doing.  She probably thinks I’m you.”

Again Laura nodded. Neither of them believed that was true, but she appreciated the attempt.

She had to stifle a sob once more as Carmilla finally pried herself free and stood up, only to hear a desperate whimper escape Rosie’s mouth.

“Quickly, take my place,” Carmilla instructed, “Do it now before they come back.”

Laura obeyed, quietly lying down next to her sister and clasping one of Rosie’s hands in her own. She felt familiar warmth spread through her when Rosie instantly seemed to recognize her and reached for her shirt. Laura let herself be pulled in, and cradled her baby sister’s head as she returned to a peaceful sleep.

Laura looked over her shoulder to see Carmilla observing them.  Laura still felt that anxious pang of jealousy, but she put it away for the moment.

“How did you learn how to do this?”

Carmilla shifted her gaze to Rosie.

“Somebody that I used to know.”

Without further explanation, Carmilla returned to her own bed and picked up the book she’d been reading.

It wasn’t long before Laura drifted off to sleep beside her sister, but in the time it took her to do so, she knew she could feel Carmilla’s eyes on her back.

She just wasn’t sure if Carmilla was watching Rosie, or her.

§~§~§

 

Laura awoke to early morning light bathing the room.  She rolled over as she stretched, only to find Carmilla’s bed empty.  It made her a little nervous, but she remembered what Carmilla had said about her word.  She was startled when she looked over and saw a cup of what looked to be blood sitting on her desk, on top of a couple books.  She knew it was Carmilla’s, but it was still a little jarring to see something like that. As she quietly extricated herself from the tangle of her bed and her still sleeping sister’s limbs, she mused that cups of blood laying around was something she was probably going to have to get used to.  She sighed as she approached her desk and realized Carmilla had left it out most of the night. She wondered to herself if Perry knew how to clean dried blood from a glass.  She turned towards the bathroom when the sunlight caught something shiny lying across the glass.

Laura’s hand flew to her mouth. How did that necklace get here?

She traced her fingertips across the locket gently, as if it would disappear any second.  She had left this at home, hidden in a box under the floorboards. The only other person who knew where it was had been asleep next to her all night.  With shaky hands Laura picked it up and pulled it over her head. She ran gentle fingers over the inscription on the back.

“ _He who plants a tree, plants a hope”_

 

Laura still remembered what her mother had told her when she gave it to her.

“ _Laura_ ,” she had said, “ _baby girl you are my tree.  You give me hope for you and your sister in this life.  No matter what happens, always remember that she is planted at your feet, and your roots remain as one.  No matter what directions you both grow in, you will remain a part of each other forever. Do you understand, my love?_ ”

The memory sent a pang of sadness and longing through Laura.  She closed her eyes against it and rubbed her neck, feeling sore from sharing the tiny dorm bed with her sister.  She twisted her head back and forth until she felt a satisfying crack. The sound almost masked the creak of the floor behind her.  She whirled around, alarmed.

“Morning sunshine,” Carmilla said, her lips curling slightly when she noticed the locket hanging around Laura’s neck.

Laura brought her hand up to touch the locket as she watched Carmilla.

“You did this, didn’t you?”

Carmilla just shrugged as she looked down to examine her nails.

“But…how?”

“Which part?” Carmilla smirked.

“All of it.”

“The two of you sleep a lot. You also keep a lot of your personal information stored on your phones.  Like your address.”

Surprisingly the thought of Carmilla entering her home didn’t frighten her the same way it would have a week ago.

“But how did you know-“

“The day your dad called and told Rosie she could stay, the two of you were up almost the whole night telling stories. I learned a lot of useful information. Like your hiding places, and what possessions were important to you.”

“Why?”

There was a pause as Carmilla considered how best to say what she wanted to say.  No more games.  Lay the cards on the table.

“I saw the way you looked at me last night.  The way you’ve been looking at me since the moment Rosie turned on that show for me a week ago.”

Laura tried to shake her head and look offended.  It didn’t work.

“Look, just because I’m 300 years old and undead doesn’t mean I’m numb to everything.  I know she’s probably told me things that she hasn’t told you. Not yet anyway. But…I intend to fix that, ok?”

Laura stared blankly.

Carmilla sighed, “You like garden analogies, yea?  She explained to me what that inscription meant.  You’re the tree and she’s the flower, right?  Well I’m-I’m just providing supplemental…nutrients or something. Like garden soil. You’re still her roots.”

Watching Laura’s face as she reacted to that statement suddenly made Carmilla feel supremely uncomfortable with the amount of emotion being expressed.  She needed to try and lighten the mood.

“Plus, I figured if I was gonna go all that way, it would only be fair if I brought something for you too. Think of it as kind of a…grand gesture of sorts.  Grand gesture number one, anyway.”

“W-what?”

Carmilla looked up and saw the confusion on Laura’s face.  She glanced back toward the window and took a step to the side.

Laura gasped.  Her sister’s guitar.  Her _mother’s_ guitar.

It sat in the corner of the room, illuminated by the rising sun.  The light was hitting the pearl inlay just right, and it looked like the birds would break free from the guitar and fly away any second.  Laura’s heart ached, but in the best way possible.

“How did you-“

“We talked about it. We talked about a lot of things. Like your mom, and that locket.”

Laura looked down and she ran her fingers over the silver chain.  She held the locket in her palm for a second before finally opening it. On the left, a picture of the three of them just after Rosie had been brought home from the hospital. On the right, a picture their mother had taken of them playing, just before she died.  She closed it again, and ran a finger over the inscription on the back.

“ _Do you understand, my love?_ ”

Laura had understood, and she had carried that understanding with her through her entire life.  She hadn’t realized how empty she’d been feeling without that reminder hanging around her neck.

“Don’t worry,” Carmilla spoke up, worried that the extended silence meant she had upset Laura, “It was the middle of the night and I was in and out in fifteen minutes, he’ll never even know I was there.”

Laura had barely even heard her, but she looked back up at Carmilla, her eyes glistening in the sunlight as they filled with fresh tears.

“Thank you."


	6. Roar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you want to check it out before you read, a certain section of this chapter was inspired by the Norah Jones song, Rosie's Lullaby. I'm sorry in advance

By the time Rosie woke up the next morning, Laura had already left for class. Why her sister signed herself up for a 7am lecture she would never understand, but Rosie didn’t mind getting up with the sun as long as she didn’t have anywhere to go.  She rolled lazily; glad to have the bed to herself. As she turned over, she locked eyes with Carmilla.  She had clearly been watching Rosie sleep.  That realization spread warmth through her, as opposed to the icy fear she would have expected. She couldn’t explain it, not even to herself, but Carmilla made her feel safe.  Even just her presence.  She vaguely remembered recent dreams that had been interrupted by Carmilla suddenly showing up to scare the nightmare away, whispering things in her ear she could never remember.  She just knew as soon as she saw her that she was safe.

Without realizing, Rosie’s face had formed a smile.  A sleepy, good morning smile.  Normally Carmilla would have reciprocated, even with just a smirk, especially since no one else was around.  But instead she turned away, a pained expression evident on her face.

“Somebody you used to know?”

Carmilla nodded.

“Somebody I used to know.”

Rosie sighed as she sat up.  Even a smile was enough to trigger memories for Carmilla.  She knew more would come soon, when Carmilla was ready.  But it sure would be helpful if “soon” were “right now”.

Rosie pushed herself up, and made her way to Laura’s desk.  A mug sat out, no doubt from her sister’s morning cocoa. Rosie picked it up, intending to wash it in the bathroom.  She noticed the glass with the dried blood.

“You know,” she started, turning around, “it would be nice if you pitched-“

Rosie didn’t even feel herself letting go of the mug.  She barely heard the crash of ceramic as it plummeted to the ground. She didn’t see Carmilla’s worried look as she threw her book down and made her way to Rosie’s side. It was only Carmilla’s gentle tug on her elbow that brought her around.

“What did you do?” Rosie whispered.

Carmilla followed her eye line.

The guitar.

Carmilla smiled, “I know it’s been hard for you being away from it. Being away from her. For the both of you.”

“The both of us?”

“Yea I…I brought Laura’s necklace too.”

Rosie didn’t say anything.  She just kept staring.

“If you’re worried about your dad, he’ll never even know I was there, ok? And I didn’t damage the guitar, I made sure-“

Carmilla was silenced as Rosie suddenly turned and threw her arms around her.   She explicitly forbade this kind of contact, with anyone.  But this, this felt right.  She remembered what this used to feel like.  It had been so long…

“Thank you,” Rosie whispered tearfully, “For everything.”

§~§~§

For the next two hours, Rosie didn’t put the guitar down.  She watched video after video online, fielded obscure requests from Carmilla, and just generally strummed non-stop.

The kid wasn’t half bad.  Carmilla found herself actually enjoying it; she was having a good time. And it was obvious Rosie was too. For the first time in what had probably been a very long time.  It was nice to see.

But Carmilla knew the hard part wasn’t over yet.  She’d told Laura she was going to fix it, and while it had been a long time since she’d last given someone her word, she wasn’t one to go back on it.

“She’s going to be back soon,” she said casually.

“Yea I know.”

“You really need to talk to her.”

“Yea. I know,” Rosie sighed, getting up to put the guitar back in the corner.

She ran a hand over the inlay before returning to her place on Laura’s bed.

“Will you stay?” she asked meekly.

Carmilla nodded, her attention still on her book.  Rosie knew she didn’t have much time, but maybe she could get just a little more out of her before Laura came back.

“I appreciate that you’re willing to do that for me,” she started, and Carmilla’s eyes narrowed, “If only there was something similar I could do for you in return.  Like, for example, being a good listener.  If there was anything you wanted to talk about, that has perhaps been bugging you lately…”

Rosie trailed off, looking expectantly at Carmilla who let out a frustrated sigh as she set her book aside.  She swung her legs off the bed and turned.  The look on her face scared Rosie, and she was suddenly very worried that she had crossed a line.

“Look, I mean, if you’re not ready I-“

“I’m not.”

“Ok. I get it.  I’m sorry I-“

“You remind me of her.”

Rosie was still for a moment; almost afraid to say anything for fear of stopping whatever was happening.

“What?” she finally prompted.

“The somebody I used to know.  You remind me of her.”

Rosie got nervous.  Who was this mysterious “her”?  It couldn’t be Ell or Carmilla would have no reason to keep it such a closely guarded secret. Besides, the connection between the two of them, it wasn’t like that.  No, this “her” was someone else entirely.

Rosie’s anxiety must have shown on her face.

“Don’t worry.  It is a very, very good thing.  I thought it would hurt. It doesn’t.”

“You thought what would hurt?”

“Remembering her.”

Rosie considered her next words carefully.  She knew she was pushing it but she had to try.

“Something happened to her.”

In an instant she saw Carmilla visibly shut down.

“Sorry kid, I’m done.”

She had blown it.  But Rosie had learned a lot from what little she had been able to pull from the vault of Carmilla. Another “her” in Carmilla’s life had most likely met an unfortunate end.  This poor girl’s backstory just seemed to grow more tragic by the second.

Rosie didn’t have a chance to protest or apologize.

“Little sister if you haven’t written an album in the time that I’ve been gone I’m going to be disappointed!  I may have just failed the first of many tests this semester so all our family’s hopes and dreams now rest with you becoming a star!”

Laura rushed in and threw her bag to the ground, slamming the door behind her with a burst of energy.  She plopped onto her bed and reached out a hand to ruffle Rosie’s hair.  The room was instantly lighter and brighter, as if someone had thrown open curtains that had been closed far too long. It was strange for Rosie at first, seeing her sister so calm after she had apparently done poorly on something for school.  But she glanced at her guitar in the corner, and she understood.  Laura’s mood was contagious and the two sisters were laughing instantly, and there were even threats of tickling.  Those were quickly followed up with threats of violence.  The laughing began to subside after a while, and with Laura finally sitting still, Rosie caught sight of their mother’s necklace hanging around her sister’s neck.  She calmed, raising her hand to let the necklace rest in her palm.

“It’s back where it belongs,” Rosie sighed contentedly.

“So is she,” Laura responded, taking Rosie’s hand in hers.

“And so are we.”

There was a pause, awkward only for Carmilla, who finally had to speak up.

“Nice try kid.”

The sisters looked at Carmilla, who was staring at the floor uncomfortably, and back at each other.

“She’s right,” they said together.

They stared at each other, preparing themselves for the conversation that was about to happen.  After a while, Laura glanced at Carmilla, noticing she hadn’t moved.

“She’s staying,” Rosie said confidently, “I asked her to.  I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not if she’s at least part of the reason you’re ready to talk to me.”

“Think of it as grand gesture number two,” Carmilla murmured, just loud enough to be heard.

Laura smiled before addressing Rosie.

“You are…ready to talk to me, aren’t you?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.  I just hope _you’re_ ready for what you may hear.”

Laura took a deep breath and nodded solemnly before diving right in.

“So, can I ask what set him off?  I remember hearing rumblings over the summer that they finally put his mom in jail. I know his brother ended up in the hospital right before I left for school.  Also I’m pretty sure I remember seeing somewhere that his dog got hit by a car, but I was already here so I couldn’t really verify-“

“Laura.”

She stopped and grew quiet.  For a moment Rosie marveled at the look of pure naiveté and innocence plastered across her older sister’s face.  A look Rosie had lost a long time ago.

“It’s been almost a year Laura.”

“I know how long you dated him Rosie that’s not what I was asking I-“

“Laura…it’s been almost a year.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I didn’t either,” Rosie sighed, “If you had tried having this conversation with me 8 or 9 months ago, I would’ve laughed.  But in hindsight, it was the foundation the entire relationship was built on.”

“But…” Laura started pathetically, “you never…”

“Do you remember that trip we took to the beach with Dad?  In January?” Rosie laughed in spite of herself, “It felt like we were the only ones in town because the water was still so cold. They had a polar plunge planned a couple weeks later.”

Laura found herself smiling, “I remember Dad freaking out about the water, he told us not to go anywhere near it.  He kept trying to quote Mean Girls; he said if we went in the water we would get hypothermia and-“

Laura’s smile fell.  Her face contorted into a mixture of puzzlement and disbelief.

“He said that if we went into the water, we could catch hypothermia and _die_.  So Rosie, please, _please_ tell me what you said to me that day was true.  Tell me that your hat really did get blown in, and that’s why I found you waist-deep in the ocean.”

Carmilla was thrown.  She and Rosie had never talked about anything like this.  And the look of eerie calm on Rosie’s face was not helping.

“Do you remember how you had been so panicked that day, because you thought you’d lost mom’s necklace on the trip somewhere?  You found it later, after you’d found me, exactly where you’d last left it. That’s the reason you started hiding it under the floor when we got home, you knew it could never get lost that way.”

“Rosie…”

“I thought it would help me feel close to her, and it was easier to carry out to the water than the guitar.  I found myself walking along the beach, looking up at the stars, and just waiting for one of them to carry me away.  God I just felt so small, Laura.  He did that to me. And the more I thought about it, the more it felt like I couldn’t breath, like the salt in the air was suffocating me. Then a wave lapped at my toes and I just…there was no one around and I felt this pull, it was so strong. I think I screamed, but the wind swallowed it up.  And I realized that’s what I wanted, to just close my eyes and be swallowed up.  Holding Mom’s locket wasn’t enough.  I needed to be closer, to be _with her_.”

The room had grown frighteningly silent, and Laura’s skin had become so pale Carmilla feared she would collapse to the floor.

“Rosie oh my god,” Laura whispered, her voice wavering as tears began to fall down her cheeks, “You mean I almost…I almost lost you?”

“Laura-“

“I almost lost you and I couldn’t even see it what is _wrong_ with me…”

“Laura hey!” Rosie said loudly, making sure her sister’s attention was on her, “I’m ok now, right?  I’m not ok but I’m ok. And even back then, I think deep down I knew you and Dad weren’t far away, and I knew my absence wouldn’t go unnoticed for long.  I think a part of me just wanted to let go for a while and be numb, knowing you would bring me back from the brink.”

The last words brought a rush of color back to Laura’s cheeks and she looked Rosie dead in the eye with a look of determination and certainty.  She began to speak, in a hushed tone as if her teeth were involuntarily clenched.

“I will always bring you back from the brink.”

A pause. 

“I know.”

§~§~§

 

It seemed like it had been an eternity, and for Carmilla that was really saying something.  But of course when she glanced leisurely at the clock, she realized the sisters had only been talking for an hour or two.  Once Rosie had dropped the big bomb, everything had flowed between the two of them. Laura was satisfied that she now knew everything that Carmilla did, but more than that, she was more grateful than ever to have her sister back.  There was still a long way to go, but opening up had been a huge step for Rosie, and Laura knew that.  To Laura, it seemed that until this very moment, she hadn’t realized just how much she had been missing her baby sister.

Carmilla began to feel the energy of the room draining; as both sisters realized that their early morning wakeup paired with hours of emotional bonding had tired them out.  Rosie instantly curled herself up in a blanket burrito, ready for a nap.  Laura stepped into the bathroom to change her clothes and by the time she stepped back out Rosie had already managed to fall asleep. She stood at her desk for a while, just watching the rhythm or her sister’s breathing as her chest rose and fell.

“Thank you,” she finally spoke.

Carmilla, back to reading her book with the occasional glance at the sleeping Rosie, was confused by the statement.

“For what?”

“Are you kidding?  For everything.”

Carmilla began to think she would never get used to the Hollis sisters and their intense sincerity.

“I didn’t do anything cupcake-“

“You may not think so, but you are part of the reason we’re able to get back to some semblance of normal.  You had a hand in convincing her she should talk to me.  She felt safe opening up to you first, and that means something. I really hope you understand the gravity of that, and I hope you take it seriously.  You’re her person now, one of them anyway. And sure all that’s enough to make a big sister feel inadequate and jealous but-“

Laura stopped when she heard a faint mumbling from within the tangle of blankets on her bed.

“Rosie? Are you ok?” she asked; ready to whip herself into a panicked frenzy.

Sleepy eyelids cracked open and a small but goofy smile appeared on Rosie’s face. She extended an arm and motioned for Laura by clenching and unclenching her fist.

“…Roar…” she whispered, her tired voice weighed down as she was clearly in that dozing place between falling back asleep.

Laura suddenly beamed, and Carmilla could swear she saw a single tear escape before being wiped away.  Unprompted, Laura began to quietly explain.

“When she was little, she could handle the letter “l” and she could handle the letter “r” but she couldn’t seem to grasp the concept of switching from one to the other very quickly, like in my name.  So she settled for calling me “Raura” which eventually simplified itself into “Roar”. Now that I think about it, she really hasn’t called me that in a long-“

Laura stopped short, her words catching in her throat.

“It’s been almost a year,” she said quietly as another tear escaped and was wiped away.

Rosie once again sleepily called out for “Roar”, and Laura rushed forward to oblige. Carmilla watched the two become one as she had grown accustomed to doing, their breathing becoming synchronized as they fell asleep together.

As she watched the two of them, a thought crossed her mind.  She was very close to the edge here.  One wrong move and she would be sent spiraling down a slippery slope she didn’t think she could survive.  Not again.

She should have been worried.  But she wasn’t.

§~§~§

 

Rosie slept longer than Laura did.  She came close to wakefulness and she heard Laura say something like, “An A is a sacred trust”, which was just so unapologetically like Laura, and she was content to ship herself back off to dreamland.  She wasn’t sure how long she’d been drifting between sleep and consciousness when she heard the dorm door creak open and voices speaking somewhere close to her. In the time it took her to fully rouse herself from sleep and gather her bearings, LaFontaine and Perry had entered the room, become aware of the “untied vampire” situation, and Perry had run off to get help.  Whatever that meant.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense.  Rosie clenched her fists and tried to maintain focus in order to ward off those familiar feelings of panic and anxiety that she could feel slowly trying to resurface.  LaFontaine had stayed behind when Perry ran off, and they were now suspiciously questioning Laura.

“Why would you let her go?!”

“I didn’t! It was…beyond my control. But she really is on our side.”

“Hi Laf!” Rosie attempted cheerfulness as she pushed her nervous feelings away, hoping they would disappear if she ignored it.

“Rosie! Did she hurt you, are you ok??”

As they spoke, their focus remained on Rosie as they slid forward to be in front of Laura’s bookshelf.  And between Rosie and Carmilla.

Rosie heard it first, although it was more like she _felt_ it.  When she looked up she saw a nasty scowl on Carmilla’s face.  She locked eyes with the growling vampire and sternly shook her head; just enough so Carmilla would get the hint and quiet down before Laura or LaFontaine realized what was happening.  They were about to try and convince LaFontaine, Perry, and whomever Perry dragged back with her that Carmilla was safe to be around.  Attacking because she felt threatened by the accusation or because she really thought LaF would do something to come between them, that wouldn’t help their case.

Rosie was brought back to the moment by LaF’s hand on her shoulder, Carmilla having quieted the growling.  For now. LaF was still asking if Rosie was hurt.

“LaFontaine I’m fine!  Everyone is fine,” she said through gritted teeth in Carmilla’s direction, “Look at it this way, Laura’s in the room so it’s pretty obvious that I’m safe, right?”

“She’s right LaFontaine, you know I would never let her be around my sister if I wasn’t 100% sure she wouldn’t hurt her.”

“So Rosie’s safe, but what about the rest of us, huh?”

Laura thought for a moment, and then turned to her sister.

“Rosie, if something were to happen to LaFontaine-“

“No!” Rosie yelled, her eyes wide as she clenched her fists even tighter, the panic simmering just below the surface.

At the sound of Rosie’s cry, there was an almost imperceptible reflex of movement from Carmilla before she realized what was happening.  A sound familiar to the whimper or whine of an animal escaped her involuntarily.  She cursed inwardly, having been essentially tricked into proving herself incapable of letting harm come to Rosie, especially if she was the cause.

LaFontaine seemed to understand the significance of what had happened, but they still seemed wary.  Rosie spoke up, attempting to draw the unwanted attention away from Carmilla.

“Well, that was…something,” she said, giving her sister a look that she hoped conveyed her negative feelings about what she’d just done, “So see LaF, everyone is fine and everything is ok and we’re all great.  Say, how did those slime experiments go?”

At the mention of science, LaFontaine’s eyes lit up and their focus was immediately shifted, which Rosie had counted on.

“Oh man Rosie it was so cool!  You’ll definitely have to come by the lab to see for yourself.  The first trial was a no go.  We thought the starch would react with the polymer, but it didn’t work. Not the way we wanted it to anyway. The second trial went better once I mixed in that disodium tetraborate solution I was telling you about. You’ve gotta see what happened, I accidentally got some of it on that gnome I managed to track down, because apparently remembering to keep cages locked is not a skill possessed by anyone else I work with.  Oh! Did I tell you I think I figured out a way to get the statues at the gate to talk?  I was-“

Their excited rambling suddenly shut down and the suspicious look returned.

“Wait a second, how do I know she hasn’t pod-personed you both?  That this isn’t all some elaborate front?”

Carmilla actually laughed at that; a bitter, grating snicker in LaFontaine’s direction.

“That’s not how it works,” she spat.

Rosie could tell that at this point Carmilla was personally offended by all the accusations.  She would never let those things happen to Rosie.  And Rosie was starting to believe she wouldn’t let it happen to Laura either. But how to make LaFontaine believe them?

Rosie didn’t have to try too hard.  In a flash Laura was up from her desk chair and up in arms, yelling at Carmilla about what a terrible roommate she was.  It was half-hearted, and Rosie had a feeling the things she was saying were things that only used to be true.  Before everything had changed.

Regardless, it worked.  LaF seemed satisfied with Laura’s anger and opposition and returned to the suspicious questioning as Laura took a seat next to Rosie on the bed.  Laura could tell Rosie was all nerves from the atmosphere in the room, and she figured being closer to her might help soothe her.

While being close to her sister always helped, Rosie could still feel the tension creeping back into her muscles as LaF grew agitated that every response from Carmilla was sarcastic.  She finally offered up a genuine piece of knowledge, and Rosie thought all would be well until Laura started talking about saving the missing girls.  Carmilla shot back with the same speech about her mother that she seemed to give every time anyone mentioned her.  It seemed like it was turning into a fight. As they continued to go back and forth, the hair on the back of Rosie’s neck stood straight up and warned of impending doom.  Just as the banter was getting heated, the dorm door flew open and slammed into the wall, sending a jolt of fear and panic down Rosie’s spine.

Perry had pushed open the door, and Danny came flying in behind her. Rosie’s heart skipped a beat when she caught sight of something sharp in Danny’s hand.  She was here for Carmilla.

She screamed for Danny to stop, but one more step and she’d be close enough to Carmilla to hurt her.  Rosie couldn’t let that happen.  Before she even knew what she was doing, she had flung herself from the bed and from her sister. In an instant she found herself standing directly between Danny and Carmilla.

But Danny was moving too fast.  Rosie could only hold her breath as she watched the stake in Danny’s hand, headed straight for her throat.


	7. Bad Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to Taylor Swift for literally the perfect chapter title. Also, let's play a game called "How many pop culture references did Caitlin manage to stuff into one chapter". Can you spot them all? :)

It was only a split second of time, but for Rosie the moment seemed to stretch on for hours.  Everything was in slow motion. She heard her sister’s frenzied screaming and saw the guilt and fear painted across Perry’s stricken face. She saw the fire in LaFontaine’s eyes in the corner of the room, making a move in Danny’s direction. Rosie knew they’d never make it in time. She saw the look on Danny’s face as it melted from pure hostility to regret in an instant.  But above it all, she could hear Carmilla. She could hear that familiar growl building up behind her, a warning given too late.  But this time, there was something different in the sound. It was wild, instinctual rather than aggressive, and Rosie could sense the panic…as if Carmilla knew that even she wasn’t fast enough to stop this.

And she wasn’t.  Carmilla knew her speed, but she also knew her limits.  What she could do wasn’t going to be enough.

With what she was sure were her last seconds before impact, Rosie reached back and grabbed Carmilla’s hand.

And something sparked in Carmilla.  Her mind twisted into a horrific flashback.  She hadn’t been fast enough then.  But she could be now.

The stake made contact with Rosie’s neck.  But Carmilla was already pulling on her arm.  Rosie’s body turned from Danny, denying the weapon in her hand a steady target. Carmilla released Rosie’s hand, hoping the bed in her path would prevent any injuries from her momentum. She quickly brought that hand up to disarm Danny, and shot her left arm up towards her throat.

The situation had been diffused.  Though you wouldn’t know that by looking around the room.  Rosie lay motionless on Carmilla’s bed.  Laura cried silent tears, too frightened to cross the room to her sister.  Perry had rushed to LaFontaine’s side when their attempt at stopping Danny had become unnecessary. Together they stood paralyzed in the corner of the room, clutching each other’s hands and staring at Carmilla, alarmed.

Their alarm was warranted, as they had never before seen the vampire’s fangs, or the way her eyes appeared to glow.  The growling had intensified, and they noticed that Carmilla’s nails seemed sharper all of a sudden.

Danny was at least a foot taller than Carmilla, but she visibly struggled. She couldn’t escape.

“I won’t let you hurt her,” she choked.

This only seemed to anger Carmilla further.  Laura let out a garbled cry as Carmilla’s hand tightened around Danny’s throat, and blood began to trickle down her neck.

“She’s not the one in trouble,” Carmilla hissed, “So far, you’re the only one of us to hurt anyone in this room.”

As if she had forgotten in the heat of the moment and was now remembering, Carmilla suddenly calmed herself and called out for Rosie.

No response.  Laura cried harder. Carmilla quieted the growling slightly and turned her head to look at Rosie, still keeping a grip on Danny’s throat.

“Laura,” Carmilla spoke, a pleading tone to her voice.

That was all Laura needed.  She scrambled to her feet and skirted around the center of the room, almost throwing herself onto the bed.

“Rosie?” she called out.

Nothing. She carefully gathered her sister in her arms and brushed the hair from her face.

Rosie was holding her hand tight to her neck, and pain had infiltrated her features. But she was conscious.

“Rosie!” Laura cried.

“Laura please,” the girl whispered, “I think I hit my head on something, I’ve suddenly got a killer headache.”

The pair in the corner breathed a sigh of relief, but stayed put.

Upon hearing Rosie’s voice, Carmilla’s growling ceased.  But her hold on Danny grew tighter by the second as she turned back to face her prey.

“She may not be dead, but that’s no thanks to you.  I’m having trouble remembering why I haven’t torn out your spine,” Carmilla snapped.

“No don’t! _Please_ don’t Carmilla!” Laura begged, as she struggled to get Rosie sitting up.

Carmilla made no moves to let Danny go, but she also wasn’t killing her, which Laura considered a win.  LaFontaine, unable to be a bystander any longer, let go of Perry’s hand as they slowly slid around Carmilla’s bookshelf and onto her bed to help Laura with Rosie. They got her sitting up, and LaFontaine was able to coax her hand from her neck.  Laura’s hand flew to her mouth, but LaF was calm.

“It’s a pretty deep gash clean across the side here, but not deep enough to need stitches.  There’s a lot of blood though,” LaFontaine sighed as they stole a glance at Danny, “This was really, really close.  If it hadn’t been for Carmilla…”

The room quieted for a moment.  Carmilla tried to feign smug satisfaction, but how could she be happy about the fact that Rosie had probably almost just died?  Sure she had pulled her out of the way, but if she had waited a fraction of a second, or pulled her in a slightly different way…she couldn’t think about it anymore. She couldn’t think about anything. She was just so angry.

“I have been doing my very best to be patient, and the fact that you’re still alive is a testament to that.  First the ambush, then the hostage taking and the starvation diet and now you burst in here attempting some big heroic entrance so you can show her just how well you can protect her.  And you end up nearly killing her sister instead.  I’m supposed to let that stand?” she fumed, continuing to tighten her grip, “I’m supposed to-“

“Carmilla.”

Danny gulped in air as Carmilla, startled by Rosie’s voice, suddenly loosened her grip.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“No,” Rosie replied bluntly, “my neck was recently sliced open and I was probably a millimeter from death.”

She let the honesty settle on the room.

“But, whatever you’re planning on doing right now isn’t going to turn back time and change what just happened.  Let her go Carmilla.”

“But she-“

“ _Let her go_.”

There was a strained pause as Carmilla weighed her options.  Then a gasp from Danny as she was released, dropping onto Laura’s bed.  Carmilla turned on her heel, intending to go to Rosie.  Rosie saw her turn and reached out a hand for her.  But Carmilla hesitated for a second, and instead of moving from her spot, she leaned back against the desk.  Rosie slowly lowered her hand, but not before catching a glimpse of the splash of blood that had somehow ended up there.  Rosie closed her eyes and sighed, of course.

“Can we maybe do something about this please?  I’m feelin’ a little woozy here,” Rosie addressed LaFontaine, gesturing to the blood that now covered her hand.

“No way dude. ‘Tis but a scratch!”

Rosie resisted the urge to laugh out loud, considering the situation.

“You’re right buddy.  It’s just a flesh wound! I’m invincible!”

“Alright,” Laura groaned, “let’s not apply those jokes to my sister, that guy had all his limbs cut off.  You guys this is NOT what I meant when I said we needed to girl the hell up.”

Rosie looked apologetically at LaF, just in time to see them…wince? Because of what Laura had just said. Rosie tucked that nugget of information away, intending to properly process it later when she wasn’t bleeding from the neck.

“Right, got it, sorry Laura,” LaF muttered, their mood having shifted completely, “We have a kit in our room.  I’ll go grab it.”

“I’ll help!” Perry quipped, eager for an excuse to escape.

As the two cleared out, Carmilla made her way to the back corner of the room, wanting to distance herself from what was about to happen.  She noticed a couple clean dishtowels and handed them over the bookshelf to Laura, who was able to dry off Rosie’s hands and press one to her neck. Then she turned her attention to Danny, who hadn’t moved.

“Are you ok?” Laura asked coolly.

“I was just…I was scared for you,” Danny whispered, her guilt obvious even in the tone of her voice, “And I was scared for Rosie.”

Rosie’s brow furrowed and she felt instantly uncomfortable, grabbing for Laura with one hand as the other began tugging on an ear. Carmilla picked up on it instantly, and she wasn’t happy.  But Danny kept going.

“It can’t possibly be good for her, what you just did to me. Who knows what else you’ve done in front of her, she must be terrified-“

“She is terrified!” Carmilla shouted, completely losing her cool, “But she’s terrified of _you_. Violence in self-defense is a lot different than _attempted murder_.”

“None of this would’ve even happened if it weren’t for you-“

“No!  You don’t get to play that card.  You made the choice to come in here guns blazing, and that choice almost cost Rosie her _life_. Now she doesn’t know if she can ever trust you or feel safe around you again.  Which is exactly the kind of thing she was running away from when she ran here to us. She _knows_ I would never hurt her.  I would _never_ put her life in danger the way you did tonight.  That’s the difference Xena.”

Danny looked defeated, but not one to ever actually accept defeat, she opened her mouth to fight back.

“Ok! Let’s try to get back on track shall we?” Laura interjected, an attempt to regain control of the conversation, “Danny, I can understand that you were scared, but you need to know that we had everything under control before you barged in here all bull-in-china-shop.”

“Under control?  Laura in the past two weeks-“  


“Yes thank you I know what I’ve been doing the past two weeks, and none of it warrants you coming to where I live, where my sister is staying, with a weapon.”

“You have to call me when-“

“ _What?_ ”

Danny’s face collapsed, as if Laura’s sharp tone had actually caused her pain. But she wasn’t giving up.

“Laura I care about you, it’s my job-“

“I am not a job to be had, Danny.  If I want to be reckless, I’m going to be reckless.  For the first time in my life I’m making my own decisions, and no one…not my dad, not the Zetas, not you… _no one_ is going to take that away from me.”

“If it were Rosie-“

At the mention of her name, Carmilla’s growling started up again. Rosie motioned across her neck to tell her to cut it out, only realizing after the fact how morbid it was for her to do given the circumstances.

From the looks of it, Laura was mad enough for the both of them anyway. Rosie watched her sister’s hand instinctually find the locket around her neck as she stood up, standing between Danny and Rosie.

“That is _different_ and you _know_ it.  She is my baby sister; it _is_ my job to protect her. To keep her safe was the last promise I ever made my mom and I will not allow you to come in here with faulty logic to try and derail the meaning of that promise.  If you really wanna talk logic, Danny, let’s talk.  Let’s talk about how you barged in here weapons drawn, and let’s talk about what Carmilla did in response.  Let’s talk about how they’re the exact same thing.”

“Laura you can’t be serious-“

“Oh I’m dead serious.  You saw a threat in Carmilla, a threat to me.  So you did what you thought was necessary to “keep me safe”.”

“Yea I know and-“  


“And _Carmilla_ saw a threat in _you_ , a threat to my little sister. Which it turns out, you were. So she did what she thought was necessary to keep my sister _alive._ And it worked, thank goodness.”

The emphasis on the last two words hit Danny hard in the chest, and she hung her head.

“Ok fine,” she said dejectedly, getting up and heading toward the door, “I’ll back off.”

As if having second thoughts though, she turned back around.

“Hey dead girl,” she said forcefully, “If anything happens to them, I’m coming back here with that stake, got it?”

“Danny,” Rosie whined quietly, “Haven’t you done enough with that thing?”

Silent streams of tears began to weave trails down Danny’s cheeks, but she didn’t wipe them away.  Rosie wasn’t sure if it was just out of pride or if she wanted Laura to see what this was doing to her.

“Just be careful, ok?”

Everyone in the room felt the finality of the statement.  Once she walked out that door she was out, and she wasn’t coming back.

But Laura just nodded, and the three of them watched as she rounded the corner and was gone.

Finally, Laura’s strong façade crumbled, and she too began to cry. Rosie reached for her, but Laura pulled back.

“You’re ok, right?” she asked, her voice quaking.

Rosie nodded reassuringly.  Laura turned and entered the bathroom, locking herself in.  Rosie knew she was gonna need some time to process.  Hopefully LaF and Perry would see Danny leaving and head back with the med kit so she wouldn’t look like a disaster zone when Laura was ready to come back out.

“What I said was true, you know that, right?” Carmilla suddenly spoke, startling Rosie.

“Wait what? I’m sorry, what you said when?”

Carmilla shifted uncomfortably, and for a while she didn’t say anything else. Rosie knew this part well enough. She knew that if she just waited patiently, whatever Carmilla was trying to express would eventually find its way out.

Finally, Carmilla looked up at her and took several slow steps forward, around her bookshelf.  She sat down on the bed. Rosie didn’t dare move the hand holding the towel to her neck.  Not because she was afraid, but because she realized this could possibly be a difficult thing for Carmilla, and she didn’t want to make it worse.  She was close enough for Rosie to reach out with her other hand, but she didn’t want to spook her when it looked like something good was happening. So she just sat and waited.

Carmilla cleared her throat.

“What I said to her, about never hurting you.  I was serious.  You know that right? Because I need to know that you know that.”

“Carmilla-“

“You reached out and I didn’t…it’s not like I have an uncontrollable blood lust. That’s not what that was about.”

Rosie just nodded, not wanting to interrupt if Carmilla wasn’t done.

She wasn’t. She went on to attempt some sort of burrito analogy to essentially explain that as long as she was properly fed, her hunger acted just like a human’s.  It’s a physiological need, but not one that trumps all else.

The attempted analogy had Rosie laughing in no time, and the fog of tension seemed to lift from the room.  Rosie could hear LaFontaine and Perry talking in the hall, they would be coming in to patch her up any second.

Carmilla must have heard them too, because she turned to Rosie and got serious once more.

“I know this may seem a bit absurd, but it’s important to me that I make sure you know. You have to know that I would never hurt you.  I would never put your life in danger.  And I would _never, ever_ feed from you.  I know I took from Laura but that was-“

“Carmilla I know,” she responded confidently, “I’m not afraid of you.”

Carmilla hesitated, and thinking about all the reasons why she would made Rosie’s heart hurt.

“You’re not?”

“If there’s one thing I know, it’s that when I’m with you, I’m safe,” she said softly, a familiar smirk appearing in her smile, “I also know that someone has been paying attention.”

“Excuse me?” Carmilla asked, confused.

Rosie grinned.

“Looks like that ol’ Hollis sincerity is finally rubbing off on you.”


	8. Closer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mostly a build up/lead up into the next chapter, which I feel bad about since it's been such a long wait for it. But I hope it's still an enjoyable chapter, and I promise to try to keep the gaps shorter from now on!

Laura stayed in the bathroom for a long time.  Long enough for LaFontaine to rush to Rosie’s rescue with the med kit. She was patched up good as new by the time Perry brought over the first batch of “You almost died tonight please let me love you” brownies.

LaF assured Rosie that once the blood had been cleaned off; the wound didn’t actually look all that bad, and they were sure the scar would be badass. However, they did notice that she was exhibiting signs of a concussion.  She had a persistent headache even after taking pain medication, and they had to turn off all the overhead lights because she was suddenly sensitive to them. She would get dizzy when she tried to stand and she would even find herself getting confused about what was happening. It would only last a few seconds and then the fog would lift, but it concerned LaF and Perry.  They found a lump on her head where they figured she must’ve collided with the bed frame or the wall when Carmilla pulled her out of the way. It wasn’t bleeding, and LaFontaine was reassured by the fact that all her symptoms, while frightening for them, were mild. 

Carmilla hid it well, but she felt guilty.  Rosie reminded her that if she hadn’t been pulled out of the way, the outcome might’ve been much, much worse.  Carmilla seemed convinced, but she still hovered protectively.

Once LaFontaine and Perry were sure Rosie was going to be ok, they retreated back to their own room, with LaFontaine leaving Carmilla strict nighttime care instructions. Rosie was allowed to sleep, but she had to be woken up every two hours or so to ensure she wasn’t getting worse, at least for the first night.  Perry left promising to bring more baked goods just as fast as she could whip them up.

Once they were gone, Carmilla made sure Rosie was comfortable; tucking her into blankets just the way she liked.  She made her cocoa and brought her snacks from all of Laura’s hidden stashes. She finally settled in with a book, Rosie’s head on her shoulder attempting to follow along. Although they both knew that metaphysics by Schopenhauer would go over Rosie’s head even without a concussion. It probably would’ve put her right to sleep if Laura hadn’t finally emerged from the bathroom.

Her eyes were red and puffy, but a look of resolve strengthened her features. She was gonna be alright. She was understandably uneasy about Rosie’s injuries, but it was obvious to her by now that even when she was out of commission, Carmilla could take care of Rosie the same way she would. She attempted to find words to express her gratitude, but for once her awkwardness won out over her sincerity. 

“You…you suck.  You know that right?”

To Laura’s relief, Carmilla picked up on what she was actually trying to do. Thank her. 

“Smooth, Sundance, smooth,” she smirked.

Rosie smiled knowingly as she looked between the two of them. She was about to ask for help to be moved to Laura’s bed for sister cuddles when they heard a loud crash outside.

Laura rushed to the window with Carmilla close behind her.  Rosie heard Carmilla curse under her breath and turned to look. She watched as Carmilla shoved Laura away from the window and slammed it shut.

“Are those giant mushrooms?!” Laura shrieked, moving forward to look out the closed window.

“I’m sorry what?!” Rosie exclaimed, a strange mix of excitement and worry clouding her voice.

“People are out there fighting. I see Summers organizing already. We have to go help them,” Laura spoke from the window.

“We can’t leave her alone right now,” Carmilla replied, a desperate tone to her voice.

Rosie wasn’t sure if that was because of her, or because Carmilla just really didn’t want to go out there.

Laura turned from the window and gave Carmilla a look, a shy smile overflowing with understanding.

“I don’t want to leave her any more than you do Carmilla.  But we can’t just do nothing.  We’ll have somebody stay with her.”

Carmilla sighed, “As long as you tell the ginger twins to stay out of my stuff while they’re in here.”

“Actually, I don’t think they’re gonna be an option,” Laura quipped, turning her attention back to the ongoing fight outside.

“And why is that?”

Laura pointed out the window, “They’re already down there fighting. Boy does Perry know her way around a baseball bat." 

“So what are we gonna do?”

“Well, I have an idea,” Laura explained, “but I don’t think you’re gonna like it.”

 

§~§~§

 

After a long night of battling the Alchemy club’s out of control fungus infestation, the gang trudged back to the dorm.  LaFontaine and Perry headed to their room, promising to come over as soon as they’d cleaned themselves up a bit.

“Do you think they’re alright in there?” Laura wondered aloud as she and Carmilla headed for their room, “I know it was my idea but they’d never met before and we were gone all night and-“

“Slow down buttercup, I’m sure they’re-“ 

Carmilla stopped talking when she picked up what sounded like an argument coming from room 307.  They looked at each other, alarmed, and Laura immediately rushed forward down the hall. Her hand was almost on the door handle when the voices got louder and she could finally hear what they were saying.

“…because Ulfric Stormcloak is fighting for the Nords dude!  Your character is a Nord!  If you’d picked any of the elven races during character creation you might have an argument but _you’re literally a Nord,_ ” came a voice.

“Ulfric Stormcloak is fighting for Ulfric Stormcloak, and he’s doing it on the _backs_ of the Nords. I hate the Thalmor as much as the next guy, but the Empire is better off with the Imperials than they would be with the Stormcloaks,” Rosie argued.

Standing outside the door, Laura began to laugh as the bickering inside continued.

“Ok I’m familiar with most of the world’s history and I have no idea what they’re talking about,” Carmilla announced.

“It’s a video game,” Laura said smiling, “They’re arguing about a video game.”

Laura paused to listen some more, but it was obvious Carmilla was confused and restless.

“We played a lot when she was younger, then she stopped for a while. I think it was because she was afraid of being branded a “nerd”, so she hid it and pushed all her favorite things away. It didn’t really start back up again until-“

Laura’s breath quickened and she closed her eyes against the realization. A gentle hand on her shoulder brought her back.

“The game they’re arguing about, it’s open world which means…well basically it means you can do whatever you want.  You have all the power.  She went straight for that game.  Almost a year ago." 

Laura looked up at Carmilla with misty eyes.

“I guess she wanted her power back.”

Laura took a moment to compose herself before pushing the door open. At first glance, the room was empty.

“Hey little nerd hottie!  And sexy roommate!" 

Laura stepped forward into the room and looked to her left.  Her sister was tucked comfortably in blankets, a mug of cocoa in her hands, perched on the windowsill facing the door. Kirsch sat on the stool they kept in the room with his back against the wardrobe, propping Rosie up and keeping her stable with his legs.

He was promptly flicked on the shoulder. 

“What did we talk about dude?” 

Kirsch cleared his throat and nodded solemnly.

“I’m sorry. Laura and Carmilla. I apologize for bemeaning you instead of respecting you as women and human beings.  It won’t happen again,” he glanced at Rosie, searching for approval.

“It’s ‘demeaning’, but you were close enough.  Good job buddy.”

“Ok but also like,” he whispered, “I can’t promise that because like, there’s no way I’m gonna remember any of that.”

Rosie laughed as she patted him on the shoulder.

“That’s ok big guy.  Progress is progress. I’ll make a feminist out of you one day.”

“What is even happening here?” Laura spoke, dazed as she watched Rosie grab for a nearly empty package of cookies that was clearly out of her reach, prompting Kirsch to immediately reach over and hand her one.

Carmilla chuckled as she crossed the room to Rosie.

“Amazing things creampuff, amazing things.  High five kid.” 

Rosie happily obliged, and when their palms connected she held on and clasped Carmilla’s hand in hers.  She pulled Carmilla close so she could rest her head on her arm.  Carmilla used her free hand to softly ruffle Rosie’s hair, making sure to steer clear from her head injury.  Then she turned to Kirsch.

“While we appreciate your clearly superior babysitting skills, we’ve got it from here Sloth.”

Kirsch smiled his goofy, innocent smile, “Well alright then, I can take a hint. But I definitely don’t mind being burned by a hottie-“

Rosie cleared her throat and glared. 

“I mean…I apologize for demeaning you.  I’m gonna go now.”

He brought his legs down slowly, letting Rosie get to her feet before standing to leave. 

“Kirsch, thank you so much for doing this,” Laura spoke quietly, “I know you would’ve much rather been out there with your brothers, instead of in here with my sister.” 

“Nah, it’s ok little nerd.  As a designated dudescort, if someone threatens a hottie I’ll protect ‘em of course, but I’m more of a lover than a fighter ya know?  Besides, your sister is actually pretty cool.  And we had an _amazing_ view, right mini nerd?  That one girl we saw fighting was a definite 9.8-“ 

“Kirsch.” 

“I’m sorry, I mean, um…all girls are 10s because all girls are beautiful,” he smiled sheepishly at Rosie, who laughed and nodded.

“But lowkey though man,” Rosie whispered, “you’re right she was definitely a 10/10 would b-“

Laura cleared her throat and gave Rosie a look.

“I mean 0/10 would definitely _not_ talk about banging in front of my sister…ok bye now Kirsch!”

“Alright, but remember mini nerd, you have an open invitation to the Zeta house now. You’ll have to come by sometime so I can show you how a real Nord fights a civil war!  Also what was that thing you were talking about? Hottie watching?”

Rosie sighed and shook her head, “Just call it people watching Kirsch, it makes it less creepy.  Also being less creepy helps too.”

“Right, got it!  See you respectable women hotties later!”

The three of them stood in stunned silence for a second, processing everything that had just happened.  The silence was broken when Rosie began to giggle. 

“I’m glad you idiots are ok,” she beamed.

Laura, the tension visibly leaving her body, rushed forward and wrapped Rosie in her arms.  Carmilla stepped away and sat on her bed, giving them their moment.  A moment that didn’t end until LaFontaine and Perry came through the door, having a discussion about the mushrooms that made it quiet obvious how deep in denial Perry still was.  But upon seeing Rosie, the discussion stopped and their focus was on her. Laura scooted out of the way to sit at her desk while they fawned.

“How is the patient doing today?” LaFontaine asked, pulling out a notebook.

“Honestly I feel so much better.  There’s still kind of like, a film on everything and sometimes it feels like I’m wearing a lead blanket, but I’ve been up and walking around without getting dizzy or confused so I count that as a win,” she said cheerfully as she pulled the blanket from around her shoulders and sat next to Carmilla on the bed.

“Well I hope you’re hungry, I have banana bread in the oven!” Perry chirped.

“You guys were in your room all of fifteen minutes how-“

Laura was cut off by an irate LaFontaine.

“Is that why my goo samples were moved in the fridge?”

“Well I’m sorry but they were in the way!  I didn’t do anything to them, just slid them over.  You know I really wish you wouldn’t keep that stuff in the same place we keep our food.  Especially now that we know what it is.”

“Wait we know what it is?” Laura queried.

The two shared an uneasy look before LaF explained that Laura had stuck her hand into a puddle of brain fluid.  They pulled a flash drive from their pocket to show everyone what the fluid looked like up close.  While the others looked away in horror and disgust, Rosie inched forward on the bed to get a closer look as LaF explained that there was some sort of parasite in the girls’ brains.

“Honestly the first thing that came to mind was that I’m glad Rosie is safe with us. We barely know what these do to healthy brains, who knows how these little buggers would react to a concussed brain.”

Instantly Carmilla was uncomfortable, Rosie could feel it. What LaFontaine had just said scared her. Why?

“Is there something you make them drink?” LaFontaine asked, turning to face Carmilla, “Or something injected or inhaled?”

“No,” Carmilla replied a little too forcefully, a shakiness to her voice, “whatever’s happening to them happens after my mother takes them.”

“Think carefully, there has to be something-“

“Yea, sure, ok!” Carmilla cried, abruptly rising from her spot next to Rosie and heading towards the door, “Let’s just dissect my deeply painful past in excruciating detail!”

Rosie turned towards the door as Carmilla rounded the corner and disappeared. Her eyes stayed fixated on that spot. She vaguely remembered hearing LaFontaine accuse her sister of having a crush on the vampire. Duh.  Just as she vaguely remembered standing up, grabbing her backpack, and heading for the door herself.  She reached towards Laura’s bookshelf for the homemade cookies their dad had sent in his last care package, thinking she’d need snacks for the hike she was sure she was about to embark on, but it had mysteriously vanished.

“…it’s no wonder she has baggage-Rosie?  Rosie where are you going?”

“I’m going after her.”

“Ok you’re clearly doing much better but that isn’t advisable,” LaFontaine cautioned.

“Rosie you have no idea where she’s going or if you’ll even be able to follow her,” Laura added.

“The banana bread…” Perry sighed. 

“I’m going after her Laura.  You can’t stop me. You know that.”

Laura stared at her headstrong sister for a second before nodding.

“I have my phone, I’ll be fine.  I love you.”

“I love you too. Be careful.”

 

§~§~§

 

Rosie wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, but she was still filled with disappointment upon exiting the building and finding no sign of Carmilla in any direction.  This was one of those occasions that had her wishing she had a map of the area. But she remembered what LaFontaine had told her.  There were certain “non-fixed” sections of campus that rearranged and hopped around at random, meaning the landscape was constantly changing.  If you had to go to the financial aid office, you had to plan for it to take all day.  You may find it in its normal spot on the North Plaza.  Or it may be out by the lake.  In which case it was best to just cancel your appointment and try again later. No one ever wanted to find themselves out near that lake.

Rosie surveyed her surroundings.  To her right, the Summer and Zeta houses as well as other residential buildings. In front of her was the main part of campus whose buildings contained classrooms and offices and labs and who even knows what else.  To her left…well, she had never seen any of them go left.  The path she could see was worn, but it seemed faded at the same time. As if it hadn’t been used in a long time. It wound around the woods next to her sister’s building and disappeared.  As she considered all that she might come across, she kicked herself for not grabbing one of her sister’s _many_ cans of bear spray.  Not that bear spray would even be remotely effective against anything she might be faced with on this campus, but without it she was defenseless.

She could feel the panic creeping in at the tips of her fingers.  But she clenched her fists against it.  She wasn’t defenseless.  Memories of recent self-defense training with the Summers (Danny had insisted) flooded her consciousness.  She may not be a vampire with super speed and strength, but she wasn’t a victim either. Not anymore.  She was a survivor.  And she would survive this too.

She sighed as her stomach rumbled.  She’d spent the last couple weeks desperately trying to avoid picking up Laura’s eating habits, ultimately failing.  She really wished she hadn’t misplaced those cookies.

Which was why she found it so strange when, upon taking her first steps down the path to the left, she felt an odd crunching sensation beneath her shoe and looked down to find just that.  A cookie.

She would have just written it off as supernatural campus shenanigans, she wished for cookies so badly she had willed some into existence.  Except as she looked a little closer she realized, as weird as it was to admit, she recognized the crumbs that littered the ground below her shoe. The cookies their dad made for Laura, they were made with a special recipe.  If you consider special to mean they were regular cookies, just baked with crumbled Oreos in the batter.  It was Laura’s way of killing two birds with one stone, or eating two cookies in one. 

Rosie was confused, but she shook it off and kept walking. She’d only made it about a quarter mile when she felt that same sensation against her shoe.  Looking down she realized she had stepped on another of her sister’s cookies.  She turned back towards the dorm, assessing the distance.  How had it ended up all the way over here? 

Only when she turned back around and surveyed the path ahead did she realize she could distinctly see at least two more of them in the distance, leading down the path and toward the tree line.  And that’s when it hit her.

Carmilla had left a trail of breadcrumbs.  And she had left it for Rosie.

 

§~§~§

 

By the time Rosie finally started growing weary of her hike, she estimated she’d walked a good couple miles.  She was an athlete sure, but her body had not been conditioned for endurance, especially not while nursing a healing concussion.  Her head had begun to ache, and she just felt generally weaker than usual. Meds from LaFontaine were keeping the migraine at bay, but she’d just run out of water. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take.

She took her mind off her condition by letting herself get distracted by her surroundings.  Wherever this path was leading her, it sure was the scenic route.  Everything was so green and bright, with evergreen trees and shrubs flanking her on both sides.  It was a refreshing break from the stagnant atmosphere on campus.  Rosie hadn’t even realized she’d been choking on it until now. But out here, she was finally taking deep breaths, filling her lungs with life.  The fresh air was helping to keep her calm.  Not that she really needed it, with the path itself being so peaceful.  Almost too much so.

After she had rounded the tree line and first lost sight of Laura’s building, it had begun to strike her as odd that the cookies she was following were all still intact.  She’d assumed she was going to have to chase all sorts of wildlife away in order to make sure she was staying on the right path, but so far…it felt like she was the only soul out there.

Shuddering, she quickly checked her phone, noting that she had been walking for about an hour. Her surprise at the lack of check-in messages turned sharply to dread when she realized she’d walked so far she’d lost service.  She took a second to collect herself, and then kept walking.  After all, Carmilla was the one leading her down this path, right? Rosie knew that meant she would be safe.

Although after spotting the next cookie, she suddenly became uneasy. She couldn’t explain it, something just didn’t feel right.  She didn’t know what else to do so she just kept walking.  She realized that even if she wanted to turn around, she would never find her way back, which was something she hadn’t even thought about when she started down the path.  She never considered Carmilla would lead her into danger.  Before she had a chance to reassure herself that Carmilla would never do that, at least not intentionally, she began to hear strange noises coming from her right.

The forest surrounding her was so thick she couldn’t see more than a few yards in, but she could hear…something.  She could hear noises like an animal, but it was unlike any animal she’d ever encountered before.  The rustling and snapping of twigs foreshadowed something larger than Rosie was prepared to deal with.

She froze. She had no cell service, no bear spray, and no hope of making it out of an animal encounter alive. She instinctively reached for her pocketknife before realizing she’d had to leave it behind when she flew here. It occurred to her that it wouldn’t have done much good in this situation anyway.

She could hear the creature getting closer and closer as her heart started beating out of her chest.  She thought her life would flash before her eyes, but all she saw was Laura.  Getting worried when she didn’t come back, seeing Carmilla walk through their door without her, maybe even coming out here and finding…whatever was left of her.  She wondered if Laura would feel it, if she would know the second it happened. People always assumed that was just a thing with twins, or maybe parents.  But Rosie had always imagined she’d know if something happened to Laura. She would feel it in her soul. Like their mother always said, their roots were intertwined.

In a panic, she knew she needed to leave something behind, to tell her sister she loved her one last time.  By the time she had her phone out, it sounded like the creature would be on her any minute. But as she began to type, something inexplicable happened.  The sounds stopped moving.  She could still hear them but…suddenly there were new sounds.  She could barely decipher what was happening, but from where she was it sounded like a fight.  The sounds were getting more vicious, but at the same time moving farther away. As things got heated, there was a split second where Rosie would’ve sworn she recognized…

And in an instant the fight ceased and silence once again descended upon the forest. Rosie listened, still frozen in place, until her heart stopped pounding against her chest.  She had no idea what had just happened, but she had no interest in knowing.  All she knew in that moment was that she needed to get to Carmilla.  She needed to get to safety.

 

§~§~§

 

Rosie had only been walking again for about 15 minutes when the path took a sharp turn before abruptly stopping.  She found herself stepping into a clearing.  At first glance it looked like nothing but a dead end, and there were no more cookies in sight to guide her.  She had no idea what to do and she was starting to panic.  She was a sitting duck in the middle of the clearing, and whatever had tried to come after her earlier could easily show up again. She didn’t think she’d be as lucky this time.

A sudden noise pulled her attention to her left.  She had no idea what it could’ve been, but as she cocked her head to listen, she realized she could hear the faint sound of…water? It sounded like a brook or stream of some sort.  While trying to stay conscious of the fact that she was probably still within Silas borders, and therefore nothing could be trusted, she had run out of water 30 minutes ago. There was no way she’d make it back without at least a little more, especially since she wasn’t sure she’d even be able to find her way back. 

Stepping forward, Rosie noticed a small break in the trees that had been traveled through.  On guard, she made her way through the brush and out onto the other side.  Once through, her jaw dropped to the ground. The trees made way for a breathtaking river valley.  Small mountains stretched into the distance on the other side of a sparkling open lake. The water she’d heard had indeed been a small stream, which met with the lake on Rosie’s left. The emerald-green water in front of her seemed to go for miles on either side.  On the far side of the valley, she could see where the lake fed into a larger river and disappeared amidst the mountains. Looking around, she felt more at peace than she had in a long time.

Knowing she still needed to find Carmilla, she also knew that she needed water. She looked to her left where the stream met the lake.  She could see it, but the trees nearby jutted out just so that it obscured her full view of the lake on that side.  But she knew she didn’t have a choice, so she slowly walked forward.

She made it to the stream without incident.  But as she opened her water bottle and bent to submerge it… 

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Relief flooded Rosie as she stood and put her water bottle back in her backpack.

“Whatever you say.  I’m just glad you’re-“

But as Rosie turned to face Carmilla, who was perched effortlessly on top of a rocky outcropping, she could tell something was off.  And there was blood around her mouth.

“You’ve been hunting.”

Carmilla paused, looking thoughtfully at Rosie, as if on the brink of divulging something. But it passed.

“It was just an animal,” she said calmly, wiping her sleeve across her face, “You’re the first human that’s been out here in decades.”

Rosie’s brow furrowed.

“We’re not breaking some rule are we?  You’re not gonna get in trouble for leading me-“

“Relax,” Carmilla smirked watching Rosie get worked up, “You’re just the first one who’s dared.”

An odd sense of pride filled Rosie, and her chest swelled as a smile broke out on her face.  Still, she tried to stay humble.

“It wasn’t much of a dare on my part,” she said evenly, looking Carmilla in the eye, “I knew you were out here.  I knew I’d be safe.”

Carmilla looked down at Rosie for a second before her eyes suddenly clouded and she looked away, out over the lake.  Realizing this may be the moment she’d been waiting for, Rosie strengthened her resolve and clamored to the top of the rocks.  She set her backpack on a rocky shelf to her right and then plopped down next to Carmilla.  Her weary body was grateful for the chance to rest.  Taking a seat hadn’t done her stomach any favors though, and it announced its displeasure by grumbling loudly.

Rosie heard rustling as Carmilla rummaged in her bag for a second. She was grateful when Carmilla handed over the mostly empty package of cookies and a bottle of water that was thankfully still cold.  She wasn’t sure where it had come from, since she was pretty sure all Laura kept in their room was soda and cocoa, but she wasn’t about to ask any questions. She took a second to quench her thirst and quiet her stomach, looking out across the lake.  Carmilla spoke first.

“I know it wasn’t easy getting here.  You’re ok right?”

“I’m not 100% yet, but this was worth it.” 

“Look at me.”

Rosie obliged, and turned toward Carmilla.

“You’re bleeding.”

Rosie’s hand went up to her neck.  The gauze wasn’t soaked, but she had bled through it.  Before she could speak, Carmilla was looking through her bag again. Rosie was surprised to see her pull out a new patch of gauze and medical tape.

“Where did you even get that stuff?”

“I took it when the mad scientist wasn’t looking.”

“And you know what you’re doing with it?”

Carmilla smirked.

“Even if I didn’t have 300 years of life experience, I was there when they were patching you up.  I paid attention.”

Rosie couldn’t help but smile as Carmilla gently removed the old gauze and taped the new square to her neck.  But she felt a twinge of disappointment when Carmilla, upon finishing with the bandage, turned to once again stare silently out across the lake.  Rosie realized this was a conversation she was going to have to start herself.

“Carmilla?” she began tentatively.

“Hm?”

“Who is Liska?”

Rosie felt Carmilla tense up next to her.  The silence echoed endlessly in her ears.  Carmilla shifted uncomfortably before speaking.

“How did you…?” 

“In my dreams, nightmares really, I can hear you whispering it in my ear sometimes. Telling her to come back.”

Carmilla’s head hung low, her hands covering her face.  She wasn’t crying, not yet, but Rosie could tell she was suffering. Whatever she was about to learn, Carmilla had struggled with it for a long time. 

“Her name was Elsebeth.”


	9. Stories and Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So while this is an AU, I have been striving to be as canon compliant as possible. So I just wanted to quickly explain that in order to properly tell the story I'm trying to tell, I had to lengthen the time between when Carmilla stormed out of the room and when Perry blows up at LaFontaine and Laura in episode 25. Other than that, I hope you enjoy!

Carmilla visibly shuddered and it was clear to Rosie that she hadn’t uttered that name in a long, long time.  But she kept going.

“Her name was Elsebeth, and she was my sister.”

Rosie remained still, not wanting to upset Carmilla any more than she already was.

“Liska,” she repeated calmly.

It was a simple statement, but Carmilla knew it was meant as a question.

“A nickname, more Dutch than Austrian really.  We had a summerhouse in the Netherlands that we used frequently.  Our mother was…unique for her time.  The idea of “trends” existed then same as it does now. Only instead of mindless pop culture, our mother’s trend was John Locke’s philosophy of tabula rasa, the idea that at birth the human mind is a blank slate.  He posited it was the duty of parents to turn that blank slate into something worthwhile, and our mother agreed wholeheartedly. So, we spent much of our childhood in the Netherlands, due to the influx of art and industry and growing trade. They were experiencing what we now refer to as a “Golden Age”.  The more time we spent there, the more familiar we became with the people in the area. They were all fond of my sister, as most people usually were.  She too was unique for her time,” a smile flowered across Carmilla’s features as if she were recalling old memories, but it was gone again in an instant, “They eventually began referring to her as Liska.  Our mother and our governesses picked it up quickly, and Elsebeth loved it so much that it just…stuck.”

“Tell me about her,” Rosie blurted reflexively.

The sad smile that lit up Carmilla’s face shattered Rosie’s heart, made it ache inexplicably.

“She had deep red hair, so dark that at a glance most people couldn’t tell it was any different than mine.  You could see it best in the sun, certain moments when the light would hit it just right. Sometimes to tease her our father would tell her it was the color of blood.  It scared her more than she let on.  But her eyes, they were captivating…just like yours.  The blue was pale, but never icy, spotted with darker shades and rimmed with a color so dark it appeared black, but was really more of a green. She had freckles like yours; she was covered in them from head to toe.  But she was anything but fair.  It seemed as though all the time she spent outside had trained her skin to soak up the sun rather than reject it.  She was always darker than me, darker than all of us, even in winter.  Sometimes our father joked that she was a changeling, since she was so different than the rest of us in so many ways, though our mother insisted it was all recessive traits from distant ancestors. Everyone always thought she’d be tall at least, like father…”

Carmilla grew quiet once again, as if talking so much about her sister had physically drained her. She was stoic, but Rosie could _feel_ it.  She hadn’t finished that sentence for a reason. Just under the surface there was a cloud of darkness hanging over this part of Carmilla’s history, and Rosie knew it was important. 

“Something happened to her,” she said quietly, echoing her words from the day before.

Carmilla slowly turned towards her, surveying her as if she were weighing the decision to elaborate, or not.  Rosie could see the tears in her eyes, but she could also see the iron determination keeping them from spilling over.  Finally, turning to look out at the lake once again, Carmilla took a shaky breath and continued.

“She was nine years old when they took her.”

Her voice broke in a way that tore into Rosie’s soul.

“Who? Who took her Carmilla?”

Carmilla sighed, and in that sigh Rosie felt the weight of what she was asking Carmilla to tell her.

“The answer to that question is not a simple one.  And it is utterly irrelevant.”

Rosie briefly considered that was Carmilla’s way of giving herself an out, but she didn’t think she should let her do that.  Not anymore.

“Your history is a part of you, which means there isn’t a single bit of it that’s irrelevant.”

Carmilla’s eyes fell to the ground, but Rosie watched as she slowly nodded her head.

“When I told your sister my story, I mentioned the conflict between Austria and the Ottoman Empire. But what I told her about my wealth blinding me to it wasn’t exactly true.  Other people of our status were blind to it.  My mother, fanciful in her parenting as she was, was blind to it. Our father wasn’t, but he did have a blind spot when it came to how it affected us, because he assumed it didn’t. But he was wrong. It did.”

Carmilla took in a rickety breath, clearly needing to take a break for a second before continuing.

“While its decline in Europe really began with the Battle of Vienna in 1683, the Ottoman Empire managed to hold onto much of its power until the 19th century. Included in that power were its many vassal states, one of the most prolific being the Crimean Khanate. They were well known for their involvement in the slave trade, it was their most profitable venture. They participated in what they called “slave raids”.  They would destroy whole cities and villages, and anyone they didn’t slaughter was captured and exported. They raided Eastern Europe endlessly, invading Styria as many as twenty times within a 13-year period. They would decimate anything in their path: churches, monasteries, it didn’t matter to them. Nothing was sacred. Not even children.”

“They took her?”

Carmilla continued, ignoring the question as if she had reached a point where her train of thought was unable to be stopped.

“Elsebeth refused to be trapped in our home.  She was fiery and wild and adventurous.  She was a lot like you actually,” Carmilla mused, staring pointedly anywhere but at Rosie, “She would’ve ventured out into an unknown forest, same as you did, without a second thought.  She was constantly exploring our grounds, which were far more extensive than she could imagine as a small child, and that amazed her.  The problem came when she decided she wanted to stray farther. Our lands were so extensive that at a certain point we stopped taking responsibility for it all. There was just too much for anyone to properly maintain.  Our governesses tried to keep her safe, but she rebuffed many of their efforts. The only solution everyone could agree on was that I accompany her anytime she wanted to leave the immediate grounds. Of course when I say everyone, I don’t necessarily mean me.  I was 13, a typical 17th century girl.  I was content to stay home and read about life outside our four walls, but Elsebeth, she wanted to experience it for herself.  Sometimes,” Carmilla paused, shaken, “sometimes I think about how morbidly ironic it is that, regardless of how I got here, I’m the one who ended up seeing the world.”

Carmilla paused to run a trembling hand over her face, bracing herself.

“I resented her,” Carmilla continued, a heavy sadness weighing her words down, “I resented that she was so different than me, and I resented that I was made to accompany her on her outings.  When really, I think I was jealous of her.  She was so authentically herself at just nine years old.  I was her _older_ sister, yet I had no idea who I was supposed to be.  Our parents even let her wear clothes that, at the time, were traditionally only for boys.  Only on our grounds, of course, and never when we had company.  But she just seemed so… _free_ …all the time, and I never understood how it was possible.  And I never got the chance to learn.”

Another unstable breath, the story was getting harder and harder for her to tell. 

“As our outings went on, I stopped paying attention to her like I should have, I even started sneaking books out with me.  I would stop following her, let her get too far away from me. One outing in particular, winter was fast approaching and it was getting darker outside earlier and earlier. We were out far later than we ever should have been, with the sun almost fully set.  I was too caught up in my book to notice that she had strayed from my sight.  It was only when I heard her cry out that I knew something was wrong.  I ran as fast as I could towards her voice, but I wasn’t wearing “boy” clothes like she was, I wasn’t as fast as I could’ve been. As I should’ve been. By the time I found the path her cry had come from, they had carried her too far for me to follow." 

“The Crimean Khanate?”

A questioning look contorted Carmilla’s features, and her perfectly crafted storytelling began to fall apart. 

“I always thought…it had to be them.  But I never understood why we hadn’t heard them coming.  The Khanate was no small organization.  They were large and powerful and dangerous. They rode into cities waving their colors, their flag, and erupting war cries.  It never made sense to me why they were even out there, and why they would turn back so easily after only taking one captive.  It was so dark, and they were so far away, but I could hear them talking.  The language they were speaking, it was closer to Hungarian, or even Slovene or Croatian, rather than the language they should’ve been speaking.  To this day I don’t know what it was, but I know it wasn’t Russian or Ukrainian like it should’ve been.  It wasn’t even Crimean Tatar,” she stopped, breathless, “But it had to be them.” 

“Carmilla…” Rosie started.

“It doesn’t…it doesn’t even matter.  The forest was quiet; I could hear her cries.  But even if I had tried to go home for help, we were so far out they would’ve been long gone by the time my father tried to find her.  So I stood, frozen in place, listening to my baby sister scream for me as a horde of men carried her off to an unknown fate.  It was one of the most horrific things I have ever experienced. And yet, at the same time, I think a part of me realized that was the last time I was ever going to hear her.  And so I stood, and I listened, and I…I was broken.  I was broken in a way that I have never been able to repair. The truth is,” her composure began to crack, “I died a long time before that ball.”

Rosie sat in stunned silence as overwhelming reactions and feelings swirled their way through her consciousness.  As her brain tried to make sense of the emotional soup her thoughts had become, her words came out in a tangled mess.

“Carmilla I…what do you…how have-“

“Stop kid,” Carmilla interrupted bitterly, “Whatever it is you think you’re trying to say, I’ve heard more than enough of it.  For the five years after she…from everyone.  Even from Ell. I can’t anymore, I just…can’t.”

Rosie knew the feeling. Well, she knew a fraction of the feeling. 

“What do you need from me right now?”

“What are you gonna do about Xena?" 

She hadn’t hesitated with the subject change.  Rosie understood. 

“If you’re asking me if I forgive her…I do.”

Carmilla didn’t move, but Rosie sensed her stiffening.

“If it helps, I only forgave her once I knew you were out of harm’s way.”

“You mean once you’d put yourself IN harm’s way?”

“It was worth it.”

“Shut up kid you could’ve died-" 

“Doesn’t matter.”

Carmilla turned sharply, a look of honest confusion clouding her features.

“I think a part of me knew,” Rosie continued, “hoped at least, that you would try and do something. But I didn’t step in front of you expecting that.  You hadn’t done anything wrong. I wasn’t going to let her hurt you." 

“Well I don’t,” she huffed, her voice gruff and heavy with hidden emotion, “Forgive her.” 

“And that’s your prerogative Carmilla.  Although I really think you should at least try and consider things from her perspective. I’m not saying what she did was justified, because it’s not, but I think she’s very much like Laura in that they both think they know what’s right for everyone around them but their ideas never seem to go to plan.  I don’t think she really considered what would happen you know, I don’t think she ever intended-“

“I don’t care what her intentions were.  Intent isn’t impact.  She never should have put either of you in that kind of situation.”

“Either of us?” Rosie smirked, nudging Carmilla playfully.

Rosie caught a glimpse of the look on Carmilla’s face before she promptly hid it away behind her hands and cascading black hair.  She knew she was right about what she saw there, but only time would tell how it would play out.

“Speaking of,” Carmilla began tentatively.

Rosie got overexcited. 

“Yes speaking of my sister what Carmilla??”

“About Elsebeth…”

“Oh,” Rosie said, her disappointment shifting to trepidation, “you don’t want me to tell her, do you?”

“I don’t see how it’s relevant.  It would just add another useless layer of drama to this complex hell we’re all already caught up in.”

“I understand, I do. But I won’t lie to her for you Carmilla. Whatever this thing is that we have, it’s…well regardless of what it is, she’s still my sister.”

Carmilla’s eyes darkened. 

“Lucky for you,” Rosie said slyly, “I can’t think of anything that would lead Laura to ask me about something that specific.”

“So…you won’t tell her?” Carmilla looked oddly hopeful.

“I won’t bring it up. And I’ll do my best to evade and omit if I’m ever asked about anything in that realm, but if by chance a direct question is posed, I won’t lie.  Is that acceptable?" 

“Yea kid, I think I can live with that,” Carmilla smirked as she reached over to gently tousle Rosie’s hair.

Rosie pushed her off, laughing, which turned into a cough.  She was so tired.  When did she get so tired?

“Hey, you ok?” Carmilla asked, clearly concerned.

“Yea, it just suddenly feels like the concussion symptoms are coming back all at once, full force. I don’t get it.”

“It can happen, at least that’s what the bio major said.  But I’ll bet the altitude isn’t helping,” Carmilla mused, her brow furrowed, “You probably didn’t notice it as you were walking because it’s so gradual, but where we are now is significantly higher up than the campus.”

“Got any more water?” Rosie asked, her head beginning to swim. 

“Only about half a bottle.  Which means it’s about time I got you back to your health team,” Carmilla attempted a smile, but it was weighted down with worry.

She worked her way around Rosie and helped her down slowly.  Once she had her safely to the ground, she propped her up against the rock and climbed back up to gather their belongings.  By the time she came back down, Rosie had begun to slip.

“Whoa hey!” Carmilla cried, reaching out for Rosie as she slid farther down the rock, “Ok we need to get you back right now.  I never should’ve led you out here." 

“I’m ok Carmilla, I promise, just not that strong right now.  We just…can’t go too fast alright?”

Carmilla nodded solemnly as Rosie wrapped an arm around her waist and leaned all her weight into it.

She was able to walk with the help, and they were making pretty good time.  To keep her occupied and alert, Carmilla told her stories about the world around them as they walked.  Like the time Will had gotten lost in the wilderness as a newly turned vampire. Carmilla had been tasked with finding him, which she had.  Curled up on the ground, covered in animal blood, whimpering.

“Of course, if you were to ask him about it he would deny it.  Probably before trying to rip your throat out,” Carmilla chuckled.

“I’ll be sure to avoid the subject next time we do lunch.”

Rosie laughed, but it trailed off.  She was suddenly overcome with panic.  As she looked around her, she realized they’d made it back to the place where she had felt so sure she was going to die at the hands of a still unknown creature. Carmilla stopped walking. She didn’t even ask Rosie what was wrong. 

“Listen to me,” she started, wrapping her arms more tightly around Rosie, “No one is gonna hurt you out here.  Not when you’re with me. I won’t let that happen, ok?”

Rosie nodded, a feeling of familiar warmth spreading through her. 

“That said,” Carmilla continued, a twinge of fear in her voice, “You need to promise me that you won’t ever come back out here.  Not without me.  There’s nothing out here anyway.  If you ever find yourself wanting to see the scenery, you ask me and I will bring you out, ok? Promise me Rosie.”

“Ok, Carmilla. I promise." 

“Ok,” she seemed relieved, which only frightened Rosie further. 

“Carmilla-“ 

“Are you doing ok?” Carmilla interrupted, “Can you keep going?”

Rosie sighed. She was learning to pick her battles with the vampire.

“I’m good,” she smiled, “I’m with you.”

§~§~§ 

By the time they made it back to the dorm, Rosie was already feeling better. She was walking on her own and the symptoms had all but disappeared.  Carmilla was still insisting she let the dynamic duo check her out when they heard shouting coming from down the hall.  From their room.

It was muffled, but Rosie picked up on LaFontaine yelling, “I don’t wanna _be_ Susan anymore!”

Before either of them could react, Perry came barreling out into the hallway at full speed.  Rosie tried to get her attention, but Perry refused to acknowledge either of them, instead storming into her room and slamming the door shut.  Rosie stood with Carmilla, speechless and confused, until a sheepish LaFontaine stepped out into the hallway.  They didn’t notice the pair at first, their head hung low and their eyes fixed to the floor.

“LaFontaine?” Rosie said softly. 

They seemed startled suddenly, and they still refused to meet Rosie’s eye. Their eyes darted quickly to Carmilla and then back down to the floor.

“I’m gonna go…read, or something,” Carmilla offered, taking the hint as she strolled casually towards their room.

LaFontaine continued shifting uncomfortably from side to side until Carmilla was gone.

“LaF what happened?” Rosie asked gently.

“Perry and I,” they started weakly, “we got in a fight." 

Rosie didn’t think she needed to ask to know what it was about. She took a second to gather her thoughts before speaking, wanting to be as delicate as possible.

“You know, as scary as it can be to think about, I’ve always looked forward to my college years.  College is definitely the time in your life when you get to discover who you truly are.”

She realized she suddenly had LaFontaine’s attention.

“I believe that’s true because college is also the place where you can be among like-minded people, people who won’t judge you before, during, or after your journey of self-discovery.  It can be tough when you mix that environment with people who knew you before. You don’t get the benefit of having a clean slate.”

LaFontaine was looking down again, their cheeks turning a sharp red.

“But,” Rosie continued, “that doesn’t mean that anything is set in stone. It’s important that you know, no matter what, you aren’t going through this alone and you won’t come through the other side alone either, ok?”

LaFontaine nodded emphatically, and Rosie noticed a whisper of a smile on their lips. She felt good about it.

“Can I ask a favor?” LaFontaine mumbled.

“Anything.”

“Laura wants to watch some sci-fi, but my laptop…” their eyes drifted to their dorm door, the same door Perry had slammed shut only minutes before. 

“I’ll get it,” Rosie beamed, attempting to reassure them, “I’ll check on her and I’ll get your computer.  You need to go help Laura with the popcorn, she _always_ burns it.”

Another smile twitched just under the surface as they headed back down the hallway. 

“LaF.”

They turned, a questioning look on their face.

“You’re gonna be ok.  I promise.”

Pleased with herself, and feeling better about where LaF was at, she spun and headed in the opposite direction.

“Hey Rosie.” 

She looked around to see that she and LaF were wearing matching smiles. Her heart felt warm.

“Thank you.”

§~§~§ 

The trio had put on Battlestar Galactica, but none of them even made it through the miniseries.  Laura had fallen asleep with her head on LaF’s shoulder, Rosie was curled up at their feet.

Carmilla wasn’t sure how long they’d been asleep when she began to sense the panic and fear from across the room.  Laura stirred first.

Carmilla watched her, thinking it would go away eventually, like Rosie’s now did. But she just kept getting more agitated, even managing to wake LaFontaine.  Carmilla dropped her book and crossed the room to gently shake the girl awake. By the time she got Laura lucid and alert, Rosie was up too.  She looked a little pale, but Carmilla was sure it was lack of sleep or all the popcorn she’d eaten.  Either way she’d be fine, Laura was the primary concern. 

Once she was calmed, Laura began spouting wildly about her dream. It sounded more like a nightmare. Blood everywhere, a light she described as “the rotted heart of the world”.

LaFontaine and Carmilla were concerned; the charm should’ve stopped the dreams from happening.  Why were they still happening? 

Rosie wondered the same thing as she backed herself up against the wall and pulled her knees to her chest.  She wondered a lot of things, vaguely paying attention as her sister and Carmilla talked about the girl in the dreams, about Ell.  She had warned that the light was “hungry”, but nothing more. Rosie could tell Carmilla was heartbroken that she’d never seen the girl, never had the dreams. Rosie wasn’t sure Carmilla should really want that, to have the dreams.  After all, she would know. 

She’d been having them too.


End file.
